FAMU President Elmira Mangum has announced that the U.S.
Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) has awarded the
University two grants totaling $6 million over three years.
The grants will support the Consortium on Materials and
Energy Studies (CMES) and Consortium for Research on the Science and
Engineering of Signatures (ROSES). The principal investigators for the grants
are FAMU Associate Vice President for Research Charles A. Weatherford and
Assistant Dean of the College of Science and Technology Lewis E. Johnson, respectively.
As the lead university on both grants, FAMU will provide leadership for the Consortia’s research efforts, including the investigation, characterization, and improvement of novel energy materials science and engineering. In addition to the faculty and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) majors participating in the Consortia, FAMU will provide leadership to 13 participating historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and four Department of Energy laboratories. These laboratories include: the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The Consortia will also serve to provide solutions to the
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that have emerged in Iraq, Afghanistan, and
other locations throughout the world, as an unanticipated and deadly threat to
U.S. and Allied military forces.
“Although these weapons are typically not technologically
advanced, they have become one of the greatest threats to our peaceful forces,
both military and civilian. Moreover, the potential biological, chemical or
radiological threats that may occur against a military or civilian population
are an eminent concern to our nation,” Johnson said.
Johnson explained that the grants will support research that
will address these national security issues and is a partnership of academic
and national laboratories for developing and expanding the pipeline of
individuals trained in radiological, elemental, and isotopic analysis of the
signatures that denote energetic materials, nuclear materials, and biochemical
toxins and pathogens.
According to Weatherford, other research goals include:
facilitating the fabrication of novel materials for energy applications,
studying alternative confinement schemes for nuclear fusion, and exploring the
dynamics of high-temperature plasmas and their interactions with antimatter and
laser fields. The Consortia will utilize a multi-disciplinary approach to
achieving the primary research focus of coupling fields to matter.
Mangum underscored the significance of the grants and
research objectives.
“Congratulations to our research team for this remarkable
achievement,” Mangum said. “Their work, coupled with the work of our students,
fellow HBCUs, and laboratories, will provide invaluable insight and solutions
that will not only further our research mission, but will also help support our
nation’s security programs. This is another example of FAMU’s resilient impact
on the national research community.”