October 15, 1999

Florida State U. Angers Scientists With Push to Drop Its Partners in a Federal Lab

By JEFFREY BRAINARD

Scientists at the nation's principal laboratory for magnetic research are protesting a plan by Florida State University to change how the lab is managed.

Florida State, the host institution of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, wants to drop the University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory as partners in the lab's operating agreement, and treat them as subcontractors instead.

Florida State administrators say such a change would be