The Laboratory has formed a partnership with the College of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara to create the Institute for Multiscale Materials Studies (IMMS). The newly established institute is designed to meet critical training, recruiting and staff retention needs for a wide range of current and future national security missions.
UC, Santa Barbara will initiate a new graduate emphasis area in multiscale materials and mechanics in the chemical engineering, materials, mechanical engineering and computer science departments to grant graduate degrees to students pursuing advanced education both at UC, Santa Barbara and at IMMS facilities in Los Alamos.
“We are looking forward to an intellectually dynamic environment. I am thrilled with the quality of students we can attract here,” said Alan Graham, a material scientist in Polymers and Coatings (MST-7), Los Alamos’ acting director for the IMMS. “The Institute will assist in nurturing a whole new generation of people to make sure the Lab is strong in the 21st century.”
The new graduate emphasis area will focus on linking recent advances at the molecular- and nano-scale to the performance of soft matter, such as polymers and biological systems observed at a relatively large scale. Classes will be taught using a new state-of-the-art Access Grid technology distance learning classroom allowing communication from UCSB to Los Alamos and from Los Alamos to UC, Santa Barbara.
David Clarke, professor of materials and of mechanical and environmental engineering at UC, Santa Barbara, is co-director of the Institute.
“This partnership will bring to bear a unique combination of personnel, capabilities and expertise that will greatly enhance the vitality of the future work force at Los Alamos in material science and engineering,” said Graham.
Los Alamos is a world leader in materials research and has unique user facilities, such as the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology. In turn, UC, Santa Barbara is nationally and internationally recognized as a center of excellence in the physical sciences and engineering. Material science related programs carried out at UC, Santa Barbara are currently ranked as the top programs in the world. UC, Santa Barbara faculty members have won five Nobel prizes since 1998. UC, Santa Barbara has one of the highest concentrations of members of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering for any university.
“There’s been a program of cooperative research between UC, Santa Barbara and the Los Alamos National Laboratory for a long time, but this institute marks a significant increase in the level of cooperation between the two institutions,” said Matthew Tirrell, dean of the College of Engineering at UC, Santa Barbara. “Pretty much every department in the College of Engineering is involved in this endeavor. This new institute represents something that we hope will be a lasting vehicle for cooperation between our campus and the Laboratory.”
According to Graham, the program carries direct and long-term benefits to the Lab by providing a formal mechanism and pipeline for the recruitment, training and retention of highly trained critical personnel in materials science and technology and access to university expertise.
“Subsequently, the College of Engineering at UC, Santa Barbara will benefit from this interaction by extending its educational activities in areas of critical service to the nation, and offering students outstanding professional development and career opportunities not found elsewhere and by tapping into Los Alamos’ unique materials research resources and activities,” Graham added.
IMMS courses are expected to begin during the winter session. For more information, go to the IMMS Web site at www.lanl.gov/science/institutes online.
