Wyoming NASA EPSCoR RID Augmentation Proposal: FY 2019 - 2021

Wyoming remains the state with the smallest population (~500,000) and its economy is largely driven by extractive industries, agriculture, and tourism. The University of Wyoming (UW) is the only Ph.D. granting research institution in the state and therefore scientific activities that address key areas of state concern are concentrated at UW. In recent UW Academic Plans, areas for development in critical areas of science and technology have been identified, one being materials science research. Additionally, there is a continued focus on materials science and engineering research through the UW Tier-1 Engineering and Science Initiatives, both of which are involved in developing and identifying high-priority areas for research and economic focus for WY and the University. The WY Governor’s UW Top-Tier Science Programs & Facilities Task Force also identified material science as an area for future development, so there is considerable interest in this area within our jurisdiction. With support from previous WY NASA EPSCoR RID awards, the Materials Science and Engineering program (MSE) at UW has become a recognized and cohesive research group on campus. The MSE program brings together students and faculty with research interests and expertise in materials science and engineering from physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, geology, and mechanical engineering. Materials science is a multidisciplinary field involving collaborations across many academic programs and the MSE program provides a rich, collaborative research environment for researchers to interact.

Current strengths at UW include new materials synthesis, advanced laser materials processing and analytics, as well as computational methods for materials design. MSE members collaborate with established centers of excellence on campus, including the School of Energy Resources, the Carbon Engineering Initiative, the Center for Photoconversion and Catalysis, the newly formed Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Center, and the NIH INBRE program, which sponsors biomaterials-related research projects. The development of the MSE program has allowed for greater networking, collaboration, equipment sharing, and faculty and student opportunities in the area of materials science research at UW.

While the MSE program has become a recognized program on campus, there is still a considerable need for growth to establish the MSE program as a core center of expertise and excellence on campus. The goal of this RID project, therefore, is to further develop NASA-related materials science research at the University of Wyoming and to continue to expand the MSE program. The long-term vision and implementation strategy for the MSE program is to develop a Center for Materials Science and Engineering at UW aligned with NASA research objectives that actively engages with NASA Centers conducting materials science research. This long-term vision will be achieved in multiple steps, which include: 1) establishing a multidisciplinary PhD program in Materials Science and Engineering, 2) participating in national NASA EPSCoR meetings to develop NASA contacts, 3) supporting faculty, especially early career faculty, in successfully obtaining extramural funding for materials science research, 4) building grant funding, research, and collaborative successes to allow for the application of larger center-related grant proposals, and 5) integrating NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) training into courses and in developing collaborative research projects aimed at not only basic research, but also producing products. The RID Augmentation will enable us to further these goals by providing additional faculty seed grants, as well as additional funding for travel to allow our faculty and students to engage in networking opportunities and develop research collaborations, and to bring external speakers to UW.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.