WPI Together: Updates & Resources for Fall 2020
Office of the Provost

With its rich history and strengths in manufacturing and materials, WPI continues to play a pivotal role in a new advanced manufacturing revolution that is moving far beyond stainless steels and nickel-based alloys. This group aims to provide opportunities for faculty and students to collectively imagine new materials and materials systems, to enable access to shared instrumentation for their scholarly work, and to foster new research collaborations both within and beyond WPI.

Vision:

To inspire dynamic, resilient scholarship and education in reimagining materials for the benefit of humanity.

Mission:

To provide opportunities for faculty and students to collectively imagine new materials and materials systems, to enable access to shared instrumentation for their scholarly work, and to foster new research collaborations both within and beyond WPI.

5 Research Areas:

  1. Water, led by Natalie Farny
  2. Energy, led by Mike Timko
  3. Additive Manufacturing, led by Danielle Cote
  4. Nanomaterials, led by Nancy Burnham
  5. Biomaterials

Upcoming Event:

Meet the researchers and get connected via a virtual event help on September 18, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm EST. More information will be posted soon.

    nLeveraging well-established industry partnerships and faculty expertise, professors Danielle Cote, Nancy Burnham, and Natalie Farny lead an interdisciplinary group of researchers from materials science, physics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, robotics engineering, data science, and other disciplines to advance these efforts, solve industry-relevant advanced manufacturing challenges, and better connect the industries of today and tomorrow. Connect now!

     

     

    Picture of Provost Soboyejo
    With materials and manufacturing - this is a rich area with lots of opportunities for discovery and connections to the industry of today and tomorrow.
    Wole Soboyejo
    Provost

    Current COVID-19 research:

    • Studies of the interaction between the virus and potential targeted medicines, nanostructures, suspended particles and surfaces with known coatings and surface roughness (Wole Sobeyejo, Jianyu Liang, Susan Zhou)
    • Integrated efforts in the design and manufacturing of COVID-19 masks, respirators, and hospital infrastructure—plus supply chain considerations for the development of sustainable manufacturing efforts (Joe Sarkis, Donna Levin, Ellen Piccioli)
    • Utilization of nanostructured metallic copper powder as feedstock for solid state additive manufacturing to produce antimicrobial coatings, in hopes of reducing viability of COVID-19 on high-touch surfaces. (Danielle Cote, Terri Camesano)

    Researchers Developing Open-Source Designs to Speed Creation of Low-Cost Ventilators

    WPI researchers are going to make designs of multiple devices and their components publicly available so anyone with a 3D printer and a background in electronics and mechanical engineering could use them to produce ventilators for their local hospitals. A manufacturing company also could use the designs to produce ventilators quickly and to scale.

    Low-Cost Ventilators

    Researcher Uses Corrosion Test Chamber to Simulate Road Salt Impacts on Future Car Designs

    A professor—in collaboration with national laboratories and a global auto parts supplier—is testing a new type of welding that may make the joint between light metal alloys more resistant to corrosion—including salt spray—leading to future designs of durable, next-generation metal car joints used in ultra-light car doors and other vehicle body applications.

    Corrosion Chambers

    Metal Processing Institute

    WPI is already home to the Metal Processing Institute (MPI), the largest industry-university alliance in North America. MPI conducts research in four research centers in the areas of metal casting (at the Advanced Casting Research Center), heat treating (at the Center for Heat Treating Excellence), resource recovery and recycling (at the Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling), and materials processing data (at the Center for Materials Processing Data).

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    More information about how to connect with the MatR: Materials Reimagined Interdisciplinary Group can be accessed by reaching out to one of the core faculty members of this group.