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Title  : NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD APPROVES RENEWED SUPPORT FOR MAGNETIC FIELD
         LABORATORY IN FLORIDA
Type   : Press Release
NSF Org: OD / LPA
Date   : February 23, 1996
File   : pr967



Lynn Simarski                                                 February 23, 1996
National Science Foundation                                         NSF PR 96-7
(703) 306-1070

Janet Patten
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
(904) 644-9651

NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD APPROVES RENEWED SUPPORT FOR MAGNETIC FIELD LABORATORY
IN FLORIDA

        On February 23, the National Science Board--policy-making body for the
National Science Foundation (NSF)--approved a new phase of funding for the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), authorizing NSF to fund
further development of the laboratory with up to $87.5 million in support over
58 months.  The State of Florida will support the facility with $41 million
over the same period.

        "The new laboratory is well on its way to becoming the world's
preeminent facility for high magnetic field research and technology," says
William Harris, NSF's assistant director for mathematical and physical
sciences.  "It will ensure the science and technology competitiveness of the
United States in high magnetic field research well into the next century.  Its
scientific potential is enormous."

        Established in 1990 as a cooperative venture between the University of
Florida, Florida State University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the
NHMFL is already operating several world-class high field magnets.  Such
magnets support the development of materials such as the semiconductors,
superconductors, and magnetic materials used in computers, visual displays,
and magnetic resonance imaging, among other applications.  In 1995, more than
200 user groups performed experiments at the facility, covering pure and
applied research in a variety of disciplines -- condensed matter physics,
chemistry, biology, materials science, engineering, and others.

        The NHMFL also exemplifies the NSF's philosophy of supporting science
through partnerships.  The facility is built upon links between the state of
Florida and the federal government, with NSF providing $66 million to the
facility since 1991 and the state of Florida contributing $81 million to
construct and equip the facility, along with funding a visitors' program and
new faculty and laboratory staff. The NHMFL's facilities at the Department of
Energy's (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory illustrate another partnership,
as do  collaboration with private industry and international programs with
France, the European Community, and Japan.  The laboratory also supports a
strong educational outreach program, exemplified by internships for minority
and female undergraduates that draw participants from across the country.


        During the next five years covered by the renewal, the laboratory will
complete a 45-Tesla hybrid magnet (one Tesla equals approximately 20,000 times
the strength of the earth's magnetic field)--a joint project with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory.  The
pulsed magnet program with Los Alamos will grow, including a planned
investment by DOE of about $6.25 million over approximately five years to
build and operate a 100-Tesla non-destructive pulsed magnet.

-end-

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