Auburn College has been awarded $50 million for a brand new three-year undertaking designed to assist the US Military Fight Capabilities Improvement Command Aviation and Missile Heart enhance its rising modernization efforts. The funding is the single largest prime analysis contract ever awarded to the college.
Titled “Light-weight, Superior Manufacturing of Metallic, Polymer and Composite Buildings for Aviation and Missile Weapon Techniques,” the undertaking can be facilitated by way of the Auburn College Utilized Analysis Institute (AUARI) in Huntsville and can rely extensively on analysis experience from Auburn’s Nationwide Heart for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME), and the Interdisciplinary Heart for Superior Manufacturing Techniques (ICAMS).
“Our essential goal is to allow the Military to include superior manufacturing supplies and strategies into present and future aviation and missile methods,” stated Robert Dowling, director of analysis growth at AUARI. “To try this, we’ll develop prototype superior manufacturing processes required to investigate, design, develop, take a look at, combine, and maintain certified parts for present and future aviation and missile methods. The superior manufacturing supplies we’re contemplating embrace alloys, polymers, and composites. The strategies will embrace every part from machine studying to materials properties characterization.”
$9.3 million of the award has already been designated for NCAME, which is able to use the funds to proceed its industry-leading analysis into the supplies, components, and course of qualification obligatory for furthering the implementation of additive manufacturing in Military operations.
“Whereas present and future aviation and missile methods would be the direct beneficiaries of the undertaking, profitable outcomes could also be transferable to different authorities superior manufacturing initiatives,” stated Dowling. “Plenty of effort has gone into growing this chance. We’re excited to get to work.”
“It goes with out saying, however it is a vital accomplishment for Auburn’s analysis enterprise and our Utilized Analysis Institute,” stated Steve Taylor, Auburn College’s senior vp for analysis and financial growth. “However it additionally speaks volumes about how our Military companions in Huntsville, and past, are inserting vital worth on Auburn’s work in superior manufacturing, which is a key analysis focus space for our Samuel Ginn Faculty of Engineering. To say it’s paying off is an understatement.”
Dowling additionally calls the undertaking tailored for fulfilling one of many AUARI administration’s said targets – making a pipeline for real-time engagement between stakeholders in Huntsville’s protection sector and Auburn College’s essential campus.
“With this award, we’ve demonstrated the numerous alternatives that may be created for college and college students once we mix our core analysis experience with buyer proximity and data,” stated Dowling. “AUARI’s proximity to Redstone Arsenal and familiarity with Military prospects and missions enabled the AUARI group to develop a extremely responsive proposal representing a broad spectrum of Auburn’s analysis capabilities each on-campus and in Huntsville.”
“President Roberts’ imaginative and prescient for Auburn is constructed round dreaming larger, being bolder, and pushing our analysis endeavors to the following degree,” stated Taylor. “This historic award does precisely that.”
