Appointed last June, President Conant is now serving on The National Defense Research Committee in Washington, whose function is to correlate the work of the scientific talent and scientific laboratories of the country, both in schools and industries, on problems relating to the mechanics and devices of warfare. Important problems of research are presented to The Committee by the Army and Navy and are allotted by it in turn to various laboratories available.

The Committee, with Dr. Vannevar Bush, President of Carnegic Institution in Washington as Chairman, was appointed by President Roosevelt and has the cooperation of The Bureau of Standards, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council for its work, which will in no way replace but merely supplement the experiments now being carried on by the Army and Navy. It is intended merely to accelerate and increase present governmental research.

Each of these men has a particular phase of National Defense to supervise while working in close collaboration with the Army and Navy.

With the assistance of Professor W. K. Lewis of M. I. T. and Professor Roger Adams of the University of Illinois, President Conant has had charge of the delegation of the problems in the chemistry division to scientific workers in academic and industrial research laboratories. When the results of these investigations have been coordinated, they will be placed at the disposal of the Army and Navy through liaison officers of the military and naval forces.

In addition to President Conant, several members of the Harvard faculty have been named to assist the Committee in carrying out its work.