Impact of the NSF State/Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on low-cost, high-speed polymer composites processing on the research and educational programs at Michigan State University

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The objectives of the National Science Foundation (NSF) State of Michigan/Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on low-cost, high-speed polymer composites processing at Michigan State University (MSU) are design, development and deployment of technology and knowledge-based systems that will reduce costs of polymer composites processing by (a) insuring faster processes, (b) reducing component costs, and (c) reducing implementation times of new composite designs. Significant accomplishments have been made in research, education and technology transfer in the areas of novel processing, liquid molding, thermoplastic processing, intelligent design and process modeling, and interphases and joining. The Center's primary educational activities were supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology-Advanced Technology Program (NIST-ATP) with General Motors and General Electric, and the Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) with the University of Delaware and the US Department of Defense. The Center's role in the four-year NIST-ATP was to disseminate injection-molded thermoplastics design methodologies to automotive, appliance, computer and other key US industries. The program enabled the Center to develop course material, a CD-ROM design manual, and workshop materials on state of the art thermoplastics design knowledge. To date, hundreds of individuals have participated in the workshops, and the material developed in this program is being integrated into undergraduate, graduate and continuing education offerings. The TRP program brought together the NSF Center at MSU and the composite materials center at the University of Delaware (UD) in a collaborative composite materials education and training effort for the Department of Defense and the durable goods industry. Educational developments included incorporation of knowledge derived from the TRP program into 49 new or existing engineering courses (23 at MSU and 26 at UD); six experiments for a new teaching laboratory; four workshops; four videotaped instructional modules (two each for liquid molding RTM technology and the injection molding technology); interactive WEB-based simulations and tutorials; and development of knowledge-based software.