National Resource Center for Materials Technology Education at Edmonds CC receives $800,000 grant

06/10/15

Mel Cossette, Executive Director and Principal Investigator for the National Resource Center for Materials Technology Education.

The National Resource Center for Materials Technology Education (MatEdU) has received an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) division.

The Technician Education in Additive Manufacturing and Materials (TEAMM) Collaborative Network (NSF ATE #1501251) grant will address a critical gap in supporting a new direction of technician education, including the identification and adaptation of skills standards/core competencies and materials that keeps pace with advances in research and development.

Mel Cossette, Executive Director and Principal Investigator for the National Resource Center for Materials Technology Education, has received funding from the NSF since 2004 and is the Principal Investigator for this project.

“Additive manufacturing is growing and expanding,” said Cossette. “We are at the right place at the right time to start an Additive Manufacturing (AM) Collaboration Network.”

As new materials develop, Cossette said it is imperative that technicians understand the properties of the materials they are handling, both individually and as they are combined during the AM process.

“Materials are everywhere. The selection of materials to be used in any product is of critical consideration,” said Cossette. “The more people are aware and conscious of that, the better.”

The Collaboration Network is a new category within ATE. Although there were other network proposals submitted in this highly competitive process, the TEAMM Collaboration Network was the only one awarded a grant in this new category.

MatEdU is housed at Edmonds CC and is the only NSF ATE funded center focused on materials science. This is the eleventh grant related to materials, composites and science, technology, engineering, and math that MatEdU and Edmonds CC has received from NSF in eleven years.