LSU faculty lead efforts to win $20 million grant to form Louisiana Advanced Manufacturing Consortium

Faculty from LSU's Colleges of Engineering and Science spearheaded efforts through the Louisiana Board of Regents to win a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to create a national consortium supporting advanced manufacturing research. The Louisiana Board of Regents submitted the grant on behalf of Louisiana with support from five state universities: LSU, Louisiana Tech, Grambling, Southern and University of New Orleans.

"We are pleased that the NSF has recognized the outstanding research taking place in Louisiana with this $20 million grant," said LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander. "This is just one example of how important having a strong higher education system is to the state, with faculty generating federal research dollars and putting those into our economy through facility construction and research outputs."

Alexander added, "It is also exciting to see multiple disciplines on our campus partner with other universities in the state to help Louisiana and the nation to regain competitive edges in advance manufacturing."

The Consortium for Innovation in Manufacturing and Materials, or CIMM, leverages a network of university intellect, state resources and centers of excellence, including LSU's National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, or NCAM, and LA-SiGMA to propagate research, workforce development and diversity, K-12 outreach and education in support of advanced manufacturing technologies. The project develops the underlying scientific and engineering knowledge to advance applications in 3-D metal printing and multi-scale metal forming.

LSU's College of Engineering will led CIMM's research efforts, along with co-principal investigators from the LSU College of Science and Louisiana Tech, through the construction of a 2,000 square foot Manufacturing Central User Facility in the newly remodeled Patrick F. Taylor Hall at LSU. The facility will be a showplace of state-of-the-art equipment for consortium members to conduct research and pursue advanced manufacturing educational initiatives.

Leading the overall project for the Board of Regents is Michael Khonsari, LSU DOW Chemical Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. With this award, Khonsari has secured more than $100 million dollars in research funding. Wen Jin Meng, Williams Professor of Mechanical Engineering, serves as the technical lead for LSU. Other faculty members listed as co-principal investigators in the proposal include Guoqiang Li, the John W. Reah Jr. Professor of Mechanical Engineering at LSU; Phillip Sprunger, LSU Professor of Physics in the College of Science; and Bala Ramachandran, from Louisiana Tech.

"The CIMM research and development programs are intellectually stimulating and offer an exciting leap forward toward the future competitiveness of Louisiana's advanced manufacturing industries," Khonsari said.

For more information on the consortium, please visit http://cimm.wp.eng.lsu.edu/.

Provided by Louisiana State University