Sino-US Partnership in Materials Research and Education

We propose to form an effective partnership in materials research and education between two leading Chinese institutions, namely the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMR) and The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and The Ohio State University (OSU). The aims of the proposed Sino-US Partnership are to: a) better prepare our graduate students for careers in the global economy, b) exploit the opportunities in science and technology provided by the recent economic and social changes in China and c) markedly enhance the effectiveness of the research activities of the OSU Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials (CAMM). These aims will be accomplished by effective integration of research and education through regular exchanges of faculty and students among the three partnering institutions, novel degree offerings, and by use of communication techniques enabled by information technology. The proposed international collaboration is detailed in the following paragraphs. The proposed program is designed to create a sustainable collaboration, that can be expanded to include additional partner institutions and undergraduate students. A unique aspect of the proposed collaboration is a mechanism for US industry to join the collaboration by support of participating graduate students.
Integrated Research and Education:

The research theme fits with and extends the activities of CAMM. Future materials research and development activities must integrate computational materials research with critical experiments to accelerate the development of advanced materials and optimization of existing ones. This is the goal of CAMM which focuses on materials for transportation, metallic nanomaterials, and biomaterials for implant applications. These topics are of significant interest to researchers in the three partner institutions, each of which has large ongoing efforts in these areas, and also are import to industrial partners. The combined resources of three high quality institutions create an enormous talent pool, with the benefit of international diversity of approaches. This synergy will enable major breakthroughs and new science in computational materials science and critical experimentation.
The proposed partnership also has a non-traditional and innovative education program involving the exchange of faculty and graduate students. Visiting faculty will conduct compact courses and collaborate in research. Exchange students will perform research and attend classes at the respective institutions. In addition, there will be five fully funded studentships for Chinese graduate students to spend two quarters in their first year of study at OSU and, after completing their research topics at their home institutions, will graduate with an MS degree from OSU.

Intellectual Merit:
The intellectual merit of the proposed partnership will be measured by the acceptance of novel and sophisticated methods for computational materials research and critical experiments. These methods encompass a wide range of length and time scales. Individually, these are significant contributions, but the integration into the broader focus of CAMM will result in a lasting impact on the field of materials science and engineering. The anticipated success of the proposed program depends on the collective intellectual talent available among the partners and the international diversity of approach to science.

Broader Impacts:
The research and education efforts enabled by the proposed international partnership will directly impact the success of CAMM. CAMM aims to revolutionize materials science and engineering with its new methodologies for materials R&D while impacting industrial practice. The educational component will directly impact graduate education, while preparing them to contribute immediately to the success of companies involved in global business.