What do we historians want from the materials researchers?

1. Help to identify and collect sources for the history of materials research. A diversity of sources will be helpful and so we are interested in:
1. Already existing histories and recollections
2. Archival material (paper and digital)
3. Interviews
4. Audiovisual
2. Help in understanding how materials research has developed over the last 40 years and that have implications for science policy. What sort of information is relevant? We suggest all the following:
1. Enabling techniques: theory, experimental tools, computer (data analysis, automation, simulation)
2. Institutions: governmental, academic, corporate, and associational
3. Driving forces: market demand, research funding
4. Changing boundaries; e.g. the gradual emergence of departments with materials in their title, or the waning of the pure-applied dichotomy
5. Materials; the nature and abundance of, say, silicon has impacted on the history of the field
6. Individual human beings have shaped the enabling techniques, the institutions, and the boundaries
3. Have dynamic collaborations between scientists and historians in which difficulties are articulate and addressed. Problem areas include:
1. What are interviews useful for?
2. What do scientists need to learn from historians and vice versa to help the process?
3. Can interviews be automated? (Can an interview be posted on the web for researchers to self-interview? Semi-automation?)
4. Can we arrive at multiple histories and mutual constructive criticism? (Scientists criticizing historian's interpretations and vice versa in a productive spirit.)
4. Finally, we would like materials researchers to eventually take on responsibilities on our website:
1. Administering archives.
2. Interviewing other scientists.
3. Providing criticism on a routine basis.