Leading the way in much of the scientific research at Iowa State is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, and the lab will likely be funded for many years to come.

Ames Lab, the DOE and ISU are negotiating to extend the lab’s contract with ISU to the year 2005.

Ames Lab started unofficially as a part of the Manhattan Project, an initiative by the U.S. government to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Tom Barton, director of Ames Lab, said that the lab developed a process for making high-purity uranium metal.

The DOE was eventually formed out of the Atomic Energy Commission and Ames Lab was formally created, according to its Web site. ISU now operates the lab for the DOE.

A great number of new technologies have come directly from Ames Lab. These technologies are not limited to atomic energy, because the lab has broadened the spectrum of its interests since its inception.

Ames Lab now has received 14 R&D 100 awards from R&D magazine, according to a press release. R&D 100 awards honor the top 100 technological products that were marketed or licensed during the previous year.

The DOE funded 38 of the 100 technologies that won the award in 1998.

According to a fact sheet, recent developments made at the lab include a material for increasing the efficiency of large-scale refrigeration, a technique that may improve the diagnosis of cancer and AIDS and a lead-free solder that is stronger and more environmentally safe than previous materials.

Ames Lab also is getting involved with the FBI. In May, Barton was on hand for the signing of an agreement bringing Ames Lab scientists into the forensic sciences.

Barton said Ames Lab researchers may help develop techniques for reading serial numbers on particular items.

The relationship between the university and the lab is one of reciprocity, Barton said. Many university departments utilize the lab extensively, and the lab also makes use of the faculty and graduate students.

“Chemistry, physics and materials science and engineering are three departments that have an integral partnership with Ames Laboratory,” he said.

Barton also directs the Institute for Physical Research and Technology, a federation of 11 centers on campus including Ames Lab.

“Many of the problems that face us today in technology require interdisciplinary teams,” Barton said. IPRT helps various groups cross disciplinary barriers, he said.