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Primary objective: The School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
(SNSM) at the University of South Florida (USF) proposes to leverage existing strengths
in science and mathematics departments, combined with strategic hires to initiate
a “Materials Science” cluster.
This interdisciplinary initiative will place
USF internationally at the forefront of both innovative research and related academic
programs in Materials Science. This cluster will enhance existing partnerships
in Materials Science and Engineering-related research with colleagues in the College
of Engineering, College of Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center and College of Marine
Sciences. Further, the cluster will coalesce new partnerships to foster the
development of future nationally-funded Centers in materials research. The
cluster will also be active in the generation of patents for translation of basic
research to industry and in the training of a technologically educated workforce.
Why is this cluster important now?: The critical national
need for research that promotes prediction, discovery and characterization
of new materials with unique or substantially improved properties as well as the
search for new strategies for the processing and manufacture of such materials has
been pointed out in a 2003 National Materials Advisory Board study initiated by
the National Research Council. The promise of nanotechnology has been recognized
by investment in a National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The nexus between advances
in materials research and potential benefits in our ability to communicate, our
health and well-being, protection of our environment, our security, our standard
of living and extending the limits of our knowledge has been identified as a critical
national need, and is internationally recognized as essential for improving the
human condition. Consequently, a variety of funding and scientific agencies
including the NSF, DoD, DOE, DARPA, NIH, NASA and NIST are currently investing heavily
in materials research. Some examples of applications of new materials and
their integration into devices include, for example, energy conversion (such as
for alternative energy sources), sensors, targeted drug delivery, biocompatible
devices, robotics, and communication using electronic, photonic and magnetic technology.
In addition to basic research there is also a national need for active articulation
with industry to take a new material to the product phase. This will stimulate
the generation of new intellectual property through patents and their transformation
to consumer products that will enhance U.S. industrial competitiveness - critical
for stimulating the local and national economy and our manufacturing base which
has been severely eroded over the past decade. The promise is significant
for impacting currently multi-billion dollar industrial applications. This
cluster in SNSM will also provide the next generation of the workforce in new and
emerging technologies of vital national importance dependent on materials science
by training Ph.D. and postdoctoral scholars through existing doctoral programs in
Applied Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Geology at USF as well as new
interdisciplinary degree programs initiated by the School.
Why USF?: SNSM at USF already has:
- A strong group of nationally recognized scientists in materials science, characterized
by the volume of scholarship and external funding in this area (described in the
Appendix), as well as the existence of significant centers such as CIFM (funded
by the US Army), SMARTT, CMD5 and FCoE:BITT.
- Extensive relevant undergraduate and graduate coursework, disciplinary graduate
degree programs and interdisciplinary degree programs (such as the newly approved
Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering)
- State-of-the-art facilities for materials design, synthesis, characterization and
modeling.
The existing critical mass of theorists and experimentalists, strategically bolstered
by the proposed hires and the shared facilities and infrastructure developed by
this cluster will rapidly propel USF to national recognition in areas such as functional
materials and drug design. The Materials Science cluster will address multiple
strategic goals for USF in its quest for AAU recognition. These include significant
increases in interdisciplinary external funding (particularly multi-investigator
initiatives such as MURI, MRSEC, etc.), and in the quality and rate of scholarly
productivity, graduate SCH and Ph.D. production and number of postdoctoral scientists.
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