Planning Grant for an I/UCRC for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications
0934093 Ohio State University; Sudarsanam Babu 0934100 University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sindo Kou 0934116 Lehigh University; John DuPont 0934129 Colorado School of Mines; Stephen Liu
The Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications will focus on the diverse need for materials in energy industries, and on developing scientific methodologies to join these materials and predict their lifetime. Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lehigh University and Colorado School of Mines are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with Ohio State University as the lead institution.
The proposed Center is geared toward the development of joining methodologies for advanced materials that are being used/ developed for energy applications. The focus of the proposed center is to develop a better understanding of the key problems that have limited the use of these materials and develop scientific methodologies to overcome the problems. In addition to the scientific and technological issues, the Center will also address a critical issue threatening the manufacturing sector. With the declining workforce involved in welding and joining technology in the last decade, the potential member companies of this Center have shown interest in funding the Center activities, as a way of training future workforce with state-of-the-art characterization and modeling tools. The PIs are well-qualified and have adequate resources to conduct the proposed research. All four institutions in this Center plan to use the NSF planning grant fund to hold a meeting with prospective industrial partners to establish the proposed Center's organizational framework, and to establish research projects of greatest relevance.
The proposed center will focus on developing joining methodologies that will eventually become core components of the curriculum within welding and joining engineering programs. The proposed Center will also offer mentoring programs for students from different ethnic backgrounds and underrepresented groups. If successful, the scientific methodologies will be used to develop state-of-the-art simulation tools that could benefit several industries.
