Tulane University joins major initiative to spur manufacturing advances
Tulane University is joining forces with Texas A&M in one of five regional centers located across the United States as part of the $140 million Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) announced by the White House this week.
Texas A&M and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station will lead the new Gulf Coast Regional Manufacturing Center, with Tulane and the University of Texas playing significant roles in its operation.
Tulane is among a consortium of 200 partners from across academia, industry and nonprofits that make up the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition, which will lead CESMII in partnership with the Department of Energy. The coalition aims to spur advances in smart sensors and digital process controls that can radically improve the efficiency of advanced manufacturing in the United States.
"The goal at Tulane is to adapt our advanced monitoring and control technologies – invented and patented at Tulane – to the major challenge of polyolefin production."
Wayne Reed
Tulane will carry out its role at the PolyRMC laboratory of the School of Science & Engineering under the direction of physics professor Wayne Reed, the lab’s founding director.
“The goal at Tulane is to adapt our advanced monitoring and control technologies – invented and patented at Tulane – to the major challenge of polyolefin production. Polyolefin production in the U.S. involves tens of billions of dollars per year, and Texas and Louisiana are the main producers.”
The lab’s spinoff company, Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies, Inc., under the direction of CEO Alex Reed, will also be involved, translating the Tulane research into an active industrial test bed platform.
“The Tulane PolyRMC and its spin-off company APMT have pioneered technologies that help produce higher quality chemicals and pharmaceuticals more efficiently,” said Nick Altiero, dean of the Tulane School of Science & Engineering. “We are proud to have them play such a significant role in this impressive consortium focused on smart manufacturing.”
In addition to the Texas A&M center, which will focus on chemical, oil and gas sectors, the other four regional manufacturing centers are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, UCLA and North Carolina State University.
