Custom-built oxide molecular beam epitaxy system at Yale. Credit: CRISP. The National Science Foundation has awarded a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center grant of $13 million to a Yale University-Southern Connecticut State University joint collaboration. The new MRSEC will double the capacity of the universities’ already established Center for Research on Interface Structures and…
Read MoreCalisolar’s Sunnyvale, Calif., offices. Credit: Calisolar, Wikipedia Back in July, we reported how State of Ohio and federal officials were left scratching their head when Calisolar, a company that has developed a lower-cost method of purifying cheap, low-grade silicon, suddenly pulled out of a deal that would have had the enterprise building a factory just north of…
Read MoreTransphorm, one of the companies that will be receiving ARPA-E and private investment funding, uses gallium nitride transistors to tackle the current level of power conversion losses (10%). Credit: Energy Information Administration. ARPA-E announced a new round of seed awards, $1.5–$6 million each, which the agency says will unlock a total investment of $100 million…
Read MoreThe new Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory will be housed in the University of Akron’s new engineering research building. Credit: University of Akron. Back in July, the top story in national news was the budget and the debate over the debt ceiling. In the 11th hour Congress and the president came to an agreement that raised…
Read MoreThe Army Research Office’s Synthesis and Processing program is seeking white papers on the topic of the creation of superior structural materials through creative combinations of 1) microstructure engineering in extreme yet precise conditions to obtain novel and far-from-equilibrium microstructures; 2) advanced microscopy, probes and other characterization tools; and 3) integrated computational materials engineering. Although somewhat with…
Read MoreFuel cell powered bus in London. Credit: Tom Page, Creative Commons. Fuel cell supporters have generally been disappointed that the DOE hasn’t done more for the technology or hydrogen-based technologies, but the agency hasn’t totally lost interest. A few days ago, DOE announced grants of nearly $7 million (over five years) for four cost analyses…
Read MoreGovernment agencies are starting to drive the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership announced in June by President Obama (see our earlier post about his announcement at Carnegie Mellon). NIST is seeking comments from the public on the best way to structure its proposed Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortium. From NIST: Contact: Barbara Lambis 301-975-4447 A notice published today…
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