How CEIMM is supporting the President’s Materials Genome Initiative (MGI)

April 24, 2013

On the 16th of April, Dr. David Walker, the Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary (Science, Technology and Engineering), mentioned CEIMM in his testimony to Congress. He mentioned it as a part of their support for the President’s Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) when briefing the overall status of Air Force Science & Technology. In particular, the Air Force S&T Program is supporting the President’s MGI aimed at doubling the speed and reducing the cost of discovering, developing and deploying new advanced materials.

Dr. Walker stated that the MGI is engaging all stakeholders in the materials development community which spans academic institutions, small businesses, large industrial enterprises, professional societies, and government. Air Force’s supporting effort, Integrated Computational Materials Science and Engineering (ICMSE) – also the main theme of our center, and its objective is to develop quantitative and predictive techniques for the field of materials science and engineering (MSE) to bring similar benefits to MSE that have been realized from Finite Element Analysis or Computational Fluid Dynamics in aircraft design.

Also in his testimony to Congress, Dr. Walker stated that the Center of Excellence on Integrated Materials Modeling, CEIMM, is formed as to innovate new solutions for pervasive ICMSE issues, including physics-based multi-scale modeling and uncertainty quantification. ICMSE requires new, science-based capabilities in order to create fresh approaches for the design of materials. Coupled with materials design is the need to develop a robust, two-way conduit between materials design, manufacturing, and component design. To tackled these toughest challenges, the Air Force, the Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Illinois have teamed to form a center-of-excellence (COE). While the COE explores basic science underpinnings for ICMSE, nearer-term approaches to integrate the continuum spanning materials design and vehicle design are being explored in concert with vehicle/component designers, manufacturers, materials suppliers, and materials developers. Two Air Force-relevant engineering problems (high-temperature metals and composites) establish the scope on which to develop, test and demonstrate approaches for ICMSE.