UMD Hosts Materials Genome Initiative Principal Investigator Meeting

On March 26-27, the University of Maryland hosted 270 scientists, policymakers and academics for the nation's 2018 Principal Investigators Meeting of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI). Participants gathered to assess the nation's progress toward the ambitious goals of integrating new theoretical and experimental approaches with big data capabilities to enhance the nation's competitiveness in the critical area of science and technology.

The MGI emerged in 2014 from a strategic plan developed by a subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) with the purpose of enabling the discovery, development, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced materials at twice the speed and a fraction of the cost. This initiative resulted in research investments by several federal agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) and Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) Professors William Bentley and Gregory Payne, as well as University of Maryland, Baltimore Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor Jana Shen jointly received one of the inaugural NSF awards. The group was recognized for their project, "Thin Film Biofabrication for Integrated Bio-electronics," which aims to extend advances for microelectronics to applications in the life sciences. The success of this project has spurred numerous international collaborations and is providing the platform technologies capable of extending additive manufacturing to important applications in sensing and information processing.

"This meeting recognized the efforts across our campuses to bridge disciplines and build the partnerships needed to translate fundamental advances in science for the public good," said Bentley, who serves as the inaugural director of the University of Maryland's Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices.

University of Maryland Vice President of Research and BIOE Professor Laurie Locascio, who served as co-chair for the MGI's founding NSTC subcommittee, kicked off the meeting with welcoming remarks.

Published April 7, 2018