NSF: Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) [13-025]

The National Science Foundation (NSF), in support of the multi-agency, federal Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), has now granted the first awards for the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program.

The NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Engineering (ENG) Directorates invested a total of just over $12 million for 22 grants in support of 14 distinct DMREF projects intended to yield a range of new developments, including new lightweight yet rigid polymers; highly durable, multi-layered materials for aircraft engines and power plants; new data storage technology based on spin electronics; composites for converting heat to electricity; novel designer glasses; membranes that function as well as biological counterparts; new techniques to develop exceptionally hard coatings; and many others.

DMREF grantees, in collaboration with industry partners, are targeting one of the primary MGI goals: To halve the current time and cost for transitioning breakthroughs from the laboratory to the marketplace--a process that can take as long as two decades.

DMREF involves the development of new physically based and verified computational tools to accelerate the discovery, development and property optimization of new materials and systems. That requires an understanding of how to synthesize and process materials to achieve desired properties and performance. Coupling those new materials with advanced manufacturing tools will accelerate their introduction into products, and at a lower cost than through standard approaches.

Deadline Date: February 15, 2013.

For more information and to apply, click here.