KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A new research center at the University of Tennessee will focus on making groundbreaking discoveries that can expand the clean energy, computing and national security industries.
National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan announced Monday morning in a visit that UT was getting $18 million for the new Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, or CAMM.
UT said the center will work on developing artificial intelligence and computational tools for use in designing and creating quantum materials and materials for extreme environments. Materials that will be studied for future usage include new metallic alloys and ceramic materials.
UT already has the Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, or IAMM, located off Alcoa Highway in the University of Tennessee Research Park. IAMM is the overarching institute through which UT's major manufacturing and advanced materials work and initiatives flow, said UTK's Christie Kennedy.
CAMM will be located inside the IAMM building, Kennedy said. CAMM research will take place there as well as at other labs at UTK and at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Kennedy said.
Other public and private universities that have such advanced materials centers include the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University.
UT Professor of Physics and Materials Science Alan Tennant will lead the center. Claudia Rawn, associate professor of Materials Science, will be deputy director and director of education and diversity.
The quantum physics initiative will be led by Adrian Del Maestro, who heads the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Steve Zinkle, the UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor's Chair for Nuclear Materials, will direct research into materials for extreme environments.
