Science Departments, NIST Establish Grant Framework
Professor Peter Olmsted, Georgetown 海角论坛’s聽Professor and Josephes Semmes Ives Chair in Physics and main liaison with NIST for the new PREP grant framework. Photo by Kuna Malik Hamad.
June 21, 2016 鈥斅�Sometimes, important research in the field of physics deals with complex, abstract theories, nearly incomprehensible without training and holding immense ramifications on the nature of matter itself. Other times, it deals with things we see every day.
This is one of the latter stories, but it鈥檚 no less fascinating.
Georgetown 海角论坛 has established a new framework for collaboration with the in Gaithersburg, Md., which will allow the agency to more easily collaborate with the University. The initiative begins with NIST鈥檚 Materials Measurement Laboratory, but is likely to be extended to the entire Gaithersburg campus by the end of the year.
The Professional Research and Experience Program (PREP) designates up to $1.5 million in NIST funding each year for up to five years. It鈥檚 not a flat check each year, but rather an avenue through which the agency鈥檚 resources can flexibly be applied to collaborative research with Georgetown University.
鈥淚t enables them to more easily utilize their internal resources to collaborate with us,鈥� said Peter Olmsted, who holds the Professor and Joseph Semmes Ives Chair in Physics and serves as the PREP鈥檚 main liaison with NIST. 鈥淧rior to this grant, we鈥檝e benefited from these collaborations, but with every interaction arranged and executed separately. This enables us to put all our contracts under the same umbrella and unites much of the administration under one roof.鈥�
NIST has supported and will continue to support a wide range of research at Georgetown. Olmsted鈥檚 work on 3D printing is one example; Professor Jeff Urbach鈥檚 research on reinforcing polymeric materials with nanomaterials is another.
Professor Daniel Blair is using neutron scattering to understand high shear flow of complex fluids in microfluidic devices with the purpose of understanding drug delivery.聽He recently 聽when another collaborative project helped to explain the science behind the perennial science-fair star 鈥渙obleck.鈥�
Professor Emanuela Del Gado .
鈥淐ement sounds like a boring material, but part of that is because we鈥檙e so familiar with it 鈥� it鈥檚 the most-used material by humans, by volume,鈥� Olmsted said. 鈥淚t also produces something like 8 percent of CO2 emissions in the process of making it. So if you can understand how to make it without dumping CO2 in the environment, that鈥檚 useful.鈥�
All Georgetown researchers will be able to apply for funding through PREP, but it was developed primarily by professors from the , a collaboration between the physics and chemistry departments that focuses on the study of soft matter. Chemistry Department Chair YuYe Tong鈥檚 longstanding collaboration with NIST on nanomaterials for surface applications such as catalysis will also continue under PREP.
鈥淎 strong focus of the NIST collaboration is devoted to soft materials 鈥� polymers, biomaterials, shampoos, soaps, plastics, most of the things we use in real life,鈥� Olmsted said. 鈥淏ut [PREP] isn鈥檛 solely restricted to soft-matter professors or those named in the proposal. … Anyone at the university, whether they are named in the initial grant or not, is able to take advantage of it if they can find links.鈥�
The framework makes the NIST鈥檚 funding and facilities 鈥� its nuclear reactor, for example, which allows detailed polymer and condensed matter study via neutron scattering 鈥� more readily available to researchers specializing in molecular-level material analysis.
To help things move even more smoothly, Olmsted is in the process of developing a 鈥渕enu鈥� complete with the cost for supporting researchers at all levels. This way, NIST can consult one document to figure out how much it costs to fund, say, a physics PhD candidate for one year, a chemistry professor on teaching sabbatical, or any other funding recipient.
Under PREP, Olmsted also hopes to speed up the implementation of a brand-new partnership: an undergraduate intern program, modeled after the Colorado NIST laboratory鈥檚 successful partnership with Colorado University at Boulder.
PREP hasn鈥檛 received any funding as of this publishing, but given NIST鈥檚 history with Georgetown and the Institute for Soft Matter, it鈥檚 only a matter of time. And the results of this partnership may well have major implications for the materials we consume, wear, and use every day. 颅颅颅
鈥淔rom buildings to medicine, food or cosmetics, soft matter science truly has an impact on any materials we may use and hence has a unique potential to improve their efficacity, efficiency and sustainability,鈥澛燨lmsted said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a tremendous amount of science behind that.鈥�