ARC HOME TO NEW NSF CENTER FOR LASERS AND PLASMAS
Old Dominion University's Applied Research Center in Newport News will be the site for a new National Science Foundation Industry/University Co-operative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Lasers and Plasmas for Advanced Manufacturing. The center will be the only one of its kind in the country and the only I/UCRC in Virginia.
"The center will build upon the expertise and $4 million research facilities of ARC and Old Dominion to pursue research and development in advanced materials utilizing lasers and plasmas," said Mool C. Gupta, Old Dominion's director of ARC. "It will strengthen cooperative research, bolster the core technology base, grow and create innovative ties with local and national industry partners and further research relationships with neighboring federal laboratories."
Additionally, Gupta noted, the center will build upon a large number of ongoing industrial projects, as well as Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology's center for plasma and photon processing, located at ARC. The will also take full advantage of being a few steps away from the Free Electron Laser Facility of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
A partnership between Old Dominion, NSF, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the City of Newport News, industry and federal laboratories, the NSF center at ARC will conduct a variety of research in electronics, aerospace, bio-medical, automotive, general manufacturing and defense industries. Some of the applications include: commercial (communications, printing, optical disks, displays, printing); industrial (advanced materials processing including cutting, drilling, marking, surface treatment); medical (ophthalmology, dentistry, invasive and cosmetic surgery, diagnostics); military (weapons, ranging, illumination, guidance, navigation); and research (nano and biotechnologies).
Currently, the center has twelve major partners: NASA Langley Research Center, Jefferson Laboratory, Philip Morris, Spectra Physics, Framatome ANP, BPSolar, Virginia Center for Innovative Technology, Vistakon, Materials Modification Inc., Luna Innovations Inc., the City of Newport News, and Science & Technology Inc.
An enterprise center of Old Dominion's College of Engineering and Technology, ARC consists of an interdisciplinary team of researchers working on scientific and technological problems in the areas of thin films, laser and plasma applications, materials technology, and the emerging fields of nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, sensor science and technology.