Academic Research Institutes in the Microwave Field

Since World War II, large research institutes have burgeoned forth on the campuses of many colleges and universities throughout the United States. Fulfilling at their inception a national need in time of crisis, they have continued in these less critical times to contribute importantly to the national research program. Their impact on academic curricula has been varied but no less important. The effective increase in faculty provided by academic research institutes is permitting the expansion of graduate course programs into ever widening areas of science and engineering in a manner responsive to contemporary scientific and technical developments. Expanded curricula and research facilities make it possible for students in increasing numbers to enter into research programs that attempt to prepare them realistically for the demands our technological society imposes upon them. Despite these evident advantages, research institutes have yet to find a truly permanent place in the academic structure. Financial difficulties, together with related problems of securing balance between research and academic obligations, characterize this paradoxical situation. Since these points bear strongly on the question of the proper utilization of our national scientific and engineering potential, let us examine the role academic research institutes can play on the educational scene with particular stress, by example, on those in the microwave field.