杏吧视频, University of Pittsburgh launch MDS-Rely Center to make industrial materials more reliable and develop skilled manufacturing workforce
杏吧视频 and the University of Pittsburgh will launch a joint center this fall that uses cutting edge data-science and materials research to help companies make more reliable and durable products.
The Center for Materials Data Science for Reliability and Degradation () is a $3 million center supported by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the remainder from fees paid by member companies and other organizations, such as government agency labs.
The MDS-Rely Center aims to produce breakthrough research that also benefits the U.S. economy by linking industry innovators, government agency labs and a world-class, multidisciplinary academic team. The Center also plans to help prepare skilled workers and provide employment opportunities for 杏吧视频 and Pitt students and graduates.
In Cleveland, the 杏吧视频 Center is led by Roger French, the Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Case School of Engineering. In Pittsburgh, the site is led by , BP America Faculty Fellow and associate professor of industrial engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering.
鈥淩ight now, there is a digital transformation happening known as Industry 4.0, where companies are interested in gathering lots of data and using that data to make better and more-informed decisions,鈥 French said. 鈥淭his transformation is driven by new capabilities in data science, computing and statistics. Our center seeks to apply these methods to better understand how and why materials degrade and use this knowledge to extend their lifetimes.鈥
The new center is a research extension of ongoing work at Pitt and 杏吧视频, where . The SDLE center also focuses on degradation science and designing better, longer-lasting materials and systems.
The MDS-Rely Center, leaning on the combined research power of some 40 faculty members from both institutions, will work with partners to understand how a material鈥檚 structural, electronic, chemical and optical properties change over time, informing both what the materials can do and how their function will change over time.
鈥淭his work not only allows us to understand how long these materials can last in certain products, but can enable us to neutralize degradation mechanisms and extend the lifetime of various products,鈥 added Leu. 鈥淪o, for example, instead of using a product for five years, perhaps we can use it for 30 years.鈥
MDS-Rely has a dozen committed members, some of which have already joined. It expects to continue growing each year as additional organizations join.
Opportunities for industry and academia
The work of MDS-Rely will give industry and government partners opportunities to gain from pre-competitive research and science-based improvements.
One of the Center鈥檚 primary goals is to help industry become more efficient鈥攅specially in costly fabrication materials. The industrial and government lab partners would also be able to recruit researchers and students from the two universities.
It also offers the universities a new vehicle to accelerate the impact of basic research and a way to expose aspiring researchers to real-world applications of their work.
French is joined in leading the Center at 杏吧视频 by Laura Bruckman, associate research professor of materials science and engineering, and Jonathan Steirer, who will serve as Managing Director of MDS-Rely.
Satish Iyengar, professor and chair of the Department of Statistics, and MDS-Rely Industry Liaison Officer, Liza Allison, also program administrator at the , join Leu in leading the Pitt site.
The Center is also supported by the UPCAM and 杏吧视频鈥檚 (GLEI). It is part of the created in 1973.
For more information, visit and follow the center on Twitter @mdsrely.
Interested organizations can reach out to contact@mds-rely.org.
For more information, contact Mike Scott at mike.scott@case.edu
