For Seyda Alasahin, a mechanical engineering doctoral student, engaging with DuPont researchers was a meaningful way to connect her work in the lab to real manufacturing problems.

“It was a good reminder that the science isn’t just academic; it could help make manufacturing more reliable and less wasteful,” said Alasahin, who is exploring composite material defects that occur when liquid resins and carbon nanotubes flow under high pressure during the molding process. 

The day was made possible through UD’s Corporate Engagement, a unit of the UD Research Office. It was hosted by Nicole Merli, director of industry and university relations/life sciences, who holds a joint role with UD and the Delaware Bioscience Association. The delegation had the opportunity to tour several core facilities and learn about the University’s collaborative ecosystem and the advanced research capabilities available to campus and community researchers. 

In the Advanced Materials Characterization Lab (AMCL) located in the Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory (ISE Lab), Jerry Poirier, who directs both the AMCL and the Keck Center for Advanced Microscopy and Analysis, took the researchers through classrooms and co-located research laboratories where students directly apply lessons learned in courses in a research setting, making note of the DuPont Interdisciplinary Science Learning Laboratories in the building. He showcased UD’s advanced materials characterization and unique testing capabilities, from analytical techniques for 3D imaging and spatial imaging to nanoscale spectroscopy for understanding a material’s chemical composition to tools for chemically mapping specific molecules on polymers to understand material performance or degradation, among other abilities. In the Keck Center for Advanced Microscopy and Analysis, Poirier spoke about the advanced instrumentation available for micron- to atomic-scale studies.

Steve Bai, director of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Center, and Papa Nii Asare-Okai,  manager of the Mass Spectrometry Facility in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, shared specialized approaches for understanding the composition and behavior of everything from atoms to molecules, proteins to polymers, all of which have varied and important applications for biochemistry, nanotechnology, and materials design and drug design.

In the Center for Composite Materials, participants had the opportunity to see, among other things, a prototype manufacturing setup for testing TuFF, (Tailored Uniform Feedstock for Forming), a strong, ultra-lightweight composite material invented at UD. The high-performance, short-fiber composite material offers superior strength and infinite formability options, a significant advantage in materials design applications for aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics, as well as in additive manufacturing.

“We want to be a university partner of choice for talent, technical solutions and research innovation,” said Pam Norris, dean of engineering.