This Graduate Research Traineeship award will support five new trainees at the Georgia Institute of Technology for graduate study leading to a Ph.D. degree with a specialization in composites. The students will be enrolled in one of the six participating Schools. The traineeship program being administered through the Composites Education and Research Center(CERC), a campus-wide facility. Georgia Tech has considerable depth of expertise in all technical areas related to composites technology, with very active research programs involving 25 faculty members who are collectively supervising 62 Ph.D. and 51 M.S. students (about one-half are engaged in composites research) in the various participating units and have considerable financial support from industry and government. There are also a large number of composites courses available to students pursuing a Ph.D. degree in composites. Several of these courses are cross-listed and are team-taught by faculty from different schools. Seven of these courses will form a set of required core courses to be taken by all trainees from all disciplines. %%% Composite materials have extensive potential for use in aerospace, automotive, recreation, civil structure (highway and bridges), and telecommunications industries and have been identified in several recent federal reports as one of the key technologies for the future economic well being of the United States. A multidisciplinary approach involving expertise in materials science and engineering mechanics, manufacturing and design is needed for the full commercial exploitation of these materials. Trainees will be undertaking research and graduate studies in advanced composite materials.
