Page 10 - NUCLEUS: The Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering magazine

Penn State leads $30 million university
research alliance
By Ashley J. WennersHerron
The Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) awarded a combined total of $51.1 million to two university research alliances to counter threats of destruction, with a specific focus on improving current and developing future warfighter technology. Penn
State is leading the Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter University Research Alliance, which was awarded $30 million for the next five years, with the potential of extending the alliance for a total of nine years and $54 million of funding with additional funding opportunities available.
Led by Douglas Wolfe, head of the Department of Metals, Ceramics, and Coatings Processing in the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), professor of materials science and engineering, professor of nuclear engineering by
courtesy, and professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State’s efforts are focused in ARL, the College of Engineering, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. The alliance includes three other permanent members: the University of Michigan (UM), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Florida (UF). The rest of the alliance includes eight other universities and several national laboratories and industry partners.
“We have a very strong, multidisciplinary group who proposed transformative research addressing DTRA’s needs,” Wolfe said. “Our collaboration consists of extremely talented investigators from a variety of institutions and disciplines with a wide range of technical expertise.”
“Fundamental to every stage of research is education.”
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