The Grainger Institute for Engineering at the
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Dr. Dan J. Thoma, Director
Formed in June of 2014, the Grainger Institute for Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was developed to capitalize on national thrusts in advanced manufacturing through trans-disciplinary, integrated interactions at a large-scale, technically diverse university. Interactions include collaborations with both internal and external partners, providing a flexible and agile ability to address existing or emerging challenges in the modern world.
Initially, the institute's focus centers upon accelerated materials discovery, advanced manufacturing, and energy and sustainability. In the initial starting transition period, tactics have focused on the hiring of strategic faculty leaders, construction of showcase laboratories for technological scale-up with industrial partners, and program development within the state and region.
This presentation will provide details on the mission and goals of the Grainger Institute for Engineering (including current progress) as well as efforts to engage in public-private partnerships.
Dr. Dan J. Thoma is the Director of the Grainger Institute for Engineering (GIE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). The GIE thrust areas are Advanced Manufacturing and Accelerated Materials Discovery. Prior to UW, he was the Deputy Division Leader for the Materials Science and Technology (MST) Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). His technical efforts have been devoted to new manufacturing methods and materials by design, with a particular focus on property response as a function of microstructural evolution during phase transformations. Dr. Thoma has been active within materials professional societies, where he was the president of The Minerals, Metals, Materials Society (TMS) in 2003, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) in 2008, and the Federation of Materials Societies (FMS) in 2009-2010. His expertise in materials and manufacturing was recognized in 2008 by being elected as a Fellow of ASM International. |