As a follow-up to the recommendations of a 1986 National Science Board Task Committee Report on Undergraduate Science & Engineering Education, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a series of workshops on undergraduate education in science and engineering disciplines. In October 1989, the NSF's Division of Materials Research (DMR) organized a workshop in the materials area. It was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Donald N. Langenberg, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago, chaired the panel of 27 invited experts. They were charged to assess the needs and opportunities in the education of undergraduates with career opportunities in any of the areas of materials research or technology, and to recommend possible ways to improve undergraduate curricula in chemistry, physics, and materials science and engineering.

The panel consisted of three subpanels: Chemistry chaired by Gregory C. Farrington, Condensed Matter Physics chaired by Phillip J. Stiles, and Materials Science and Engineering chaired by Reza Abbaschian. Robert J. Reynik, DMR/NSF, was the workshop organizer and coordinator. Each subpanel held separate meetings to discuss undergraduate education in materials and develop recommendations in its respective disciplines; plenary sessions featured group discussions of views and recommendations.

Each subpanel prepared a separate report, and the chairman prepared a summary report, which organizes the findings and recommendations of the subpanel reports into five areas: curriculum development, undergraduate laboratories, computers in undergraduate education, textbooks and other teaching resources, and faculty and student development. These reports constirute the full workshop report, which is available at no cost from the NSF. The opinions and recommendations in the workshop report are those of the expert panel and do not represent NSF policy. The recommendations are currently under review by DMR.