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Solid Foundation
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College of Engineering

Sustaining A Legacy

Engineering research is complex and expensive. This fact, and the growing emphasis by government and industrial research sponsors on mission- and task-oriented research, has fostered the development of interdisciplinary research teams, often focused in research centers, to address the engineering priorities of the nation.

Oldest among the research centers in the College of Engineering at Delaware is the Center for Composite Materials, an internationally recognized, interdisciplinary center for composites research and education. More than 25 faculty members, 40 graduate students, and 35 undergraduates from eight departments in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Science, and Business and Economics are affiliated with the center at any given time. The Center’s strength is invested in its talented researchers, its close relationships established over the 25 years of its existence with industry and government, and its focus on manufacturing science.

With the support of the University administration and local and regional industry, the College of Engineering has been very active recently in creating research centers and consortia to join the College’s existing research centers.

• Researchers of the proposed Center for Infrastructure Renewal are demonstrating that advanced composite materials—mixtures of resins and glass, carbon, or synthetic fibers—offer promise both as a cost-effective means of repairing deficient structures and as a long-lasting construction material for new structures. Creation of this center couldn’t come at a more critical time. An estimated 30 percent of the nation’s 600,000 public bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, with the cost of rehabilitating or replacing this infrastructure estimated at $150 billion.
  
  
• The new Process Control and Monitoring Consortium combines expertise in the Departments of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, as well as in Chemistry and Mathematics from the College of Arts and Science. It addresses critical needs for computer-integrated control of industrial processes ranging from pulp and paper products to petrochemical refining and drug manufacturing. The consortium will play a key role in the transfer of academic theory to industrial practice through the direct involvement of industrial partners in the consortium’s activities and through pilot testing of control algorithms.
  
  
• Molecular and biological processes are a new frontier for industry. A growing effort within the Department of Chemical Engineering is focused on molecular and processing issues related to new biotechnology areas, particularly those related to sub-cellular activities in plants. Nearly half of the current faculty is involved in some aspect of this work, and links to other departments in the College and across the campus are growing in an effort to establish a Center for Bioprocessing.
  
  
• The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is prominently featured in the campus-wide initiative in biotechnology. A proposed Center for Bioelectronic Interfaces aims to develop the materials and tools necessary to link electronic sensors and, ultimately, computers to biomolecular structures, including living cells. The outcomes of this work will have fundamental impacts on both science and the ability of the State of Delaware to compete in this burgeoning area of technology.
  
  
• A recent initiative on Advanced Electronics and Materials, supported by the State of Delaware, takes advantage of the electronic industry’s growing momentum in the state. The initiative, centered mainly in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, integrates research and education to train and retain the best undergraduate and graduate students for employment in Delaware’s emerging microelectronics industry.
  
  
• Fluid flow. Mass transport. Aerosol particle deposition. These topics are typical of research in mechanical engineering, but most of us do not think of them with reference to the human body. However, researchers in the new Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, a recent outgrowth of the Orthopedic and Biomechanical Engineering Center, are applying all these principles and more to the field of medicine. Center researchers collaborate closely with colleagues from the biomedical industry, hospitals, medical schools, and other UD departments such as Physical Therapy, Exercise and Sports Science, and Computer Science to provide engineering science and clinical technology to reduce the impact of disease on the everyday life of individuals.