Building on a legacy of excellence in glass science and engineering, the brand new Center for Glass Research (CGR) was just lately launched at Penn State. It brings collectively the experience of researchers from Penn State, Alfred University, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) in a strategic collaborative initiative.
“United by a shared commitment to innovation, the Center for Glass Research plans to integrate fundamental research with cutting-edge experimental and computational methods to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the glass industry today,” stated Maziar Montazerian, managing director of the CGR and assistant analysis professor of supplies science and engineering at Penn State.
The mission of the CGR is to advance glass applied sciences via leveraging new instruments and new approaches. Resulting information outcomes and technological developments will likely be developed in shut collaboration with trade companions, making certain a seamless transition from laboratory improvements to real-world industrial purposes, in keeping with Montazerian.
Penn State has an extended historical past of management in glass analysis, starting within the late Thirties with Woldemar Weyl and Norbert Kreidl.
“Woldemar Weyl, who retired in 1968 from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ faculty, was one of the founders of modern glass science,” stated John Mauro, division head of Materials Science and Engineering and Dorothy Pate Enright Professor. “His research on the chemistry and physics of glass led to numerous practical applications and better everyday materials. This new center will build on that legacy.”
Between 1996 and 2006, the U.S. National Science Foundation supported a CGR via its Industry-University Cooperative Research Center Program, which led to groundbreaking initiatives that reworked the glass trade, in keeping with the researchers. Hosted at Alfred University and together with the identical companions, Missouri S&T, previously often called the University of Missouri at Rolla, and Penn State, the middle cast lasting partnerships with key U.S. glass trade leaders and made substantial contributions to fundamental science, manufacturing, protection and biomedical applied sciences. Its affect continues to form the sphere in the present day. This new middle will construct on and develop these contributions.
One of most lasting achievements of the earlier CGR was cultivating a talented workforce pipeline that guided college students into impactful careers and drove innovation throughout the trade. But because the glass trade advanced, so did its challenges.
Mauro stated that in the present day, the sector faces pressing calls for like decarbonization, superior efficiency necessities and a quickly increasing buyer base. Fortunately, new instruments – comparable to in-situ characterization with real-time sensing, machine studying and superior simulations of non-equilibrium supplies – supply methods to fulfill these challenges.
“Together, Penn State, Alfred University and Missouri S&T form an ideal team,” Montazerian stated. “Each institution brings unique strengths to the table and by joining forces, each institution can systematically tackle the most complex scientific problems facing the glass industry today, problems no single institution could solve alone. This revitalized center represents a significant step forward for glass research, and we’re proud to be part of it.”
To have a good time the launch of the brand new CGR, there will likely be an inaugural kickoff assembly at Penn State on Oct. 29. This occasion will deliver collectively main consultants from academia and trade to discover collaborative alternatives, share insights, and set priorities for analysis and workforce improvement.
“Our initiatives have received enthusiastic responses from academic and industry partners,” Montazerian stated. “The agenda’s packed with talks and presentations that explore today’s biggest challenges in glass science, explore new proposal opportunities, and look ahead to where the field and the workforce is headed.”
Seong Kim, head of the Penn State’s Department of Chemical Engineering and holder of the Walter L. Robb Family Department Head’s Chair, serves as the middle’s co-director together with Mauro. Kim can be a professor of supplies science and engineering.