LSU Engineering Professor Awarded $5 Million NSF Grant with Southern University
December 2, 2009
LSU Mechanical Engineering professor, Eyassu Woldesenbet has received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish the "Next Generation Composites Crest Center, or NextGenC3 on Southern University's campus in Baton Rouge, LA. Woldesenbet is the Principal Investigator of the project and is also a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Southern.
"LSU will work with Southern University to use NextGenC3 as a tool to provide engineering and science education and research exposure to students from K-12 to the doctoral level," said Woldesenbet. "The Southern University-NSF Center will generate new knowledge necessary to advance the next generation composite materials to be used in structures for aerospace, naval, ground and space transportation."
The center will focus on the development of cutting edge research on next generation composite materials and educational activities that will provide traditionally underrepresented minority students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with research experiences at a readily accessible advanced research facility.
Composite materials are made of two or more materials that produce a superior material than each component. The research will produce materials that are ultralight weight, strong, high impact resistant and multifunctional (sensing, self healing, conductive, energy generation, etc.). Woldesenbet said "An example of this research would be developing a material that will enable a car to run on solar power and repair its own body without human intervention.".
The NSF CREST Center is investigating three research thrust areas and will produce synergistic understanding of next generation composites. NextGenC3 will also serve as a center of collaboration for scientists and researchers in institutions, research centers, national labs and industry around the country. Along with Woldesenbet, the investigators include Drs. Edwin Walker, Karen Crosby, and Guoqiang Li all from Southern University and Drs. Su-Seng Pang and John Pojman from LSU. Approximately, $862,000 of the funds will mainly go to LSU to support doctoral students.
Two of the investigators (PI: Woldesenbet and Co-PI: Li) are joint faculty members at both Southern University and LSU. This joint appointment, initiated by funding from NSF and Louisiana Board of regents, has created opportunities for joint projects and education between the students and faculty of the two universities. These joint projects involving Woldesenbet and LI are now worth more than $10 million.
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Article by Mimi LaValle, LSU College of Engineering, 225-578-5706, mlavall@lsu.edu; and Edward Pratt, Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 225-771-4545, edward_pratt@subr.edu.
