November 2, 2004, Bethlehem, PA--Lehigh University has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an international research center supporting research into glass. The International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glasses (IMI) will sponsor research into six new potential uses for glass, says IMI director Himanshu Jain. These are glassy metamaterials, including novel glasses and nanocomposites; functional coatings; glasses engineered for strength; ionic functionality; optical functionality; and biofunctionality.
Applications of these include arrays of micro- and nanolenses, 3-D information storage, optical sensors and displays, glasses engineered for toughness (less-brittle glasses), glass for DNA analysis, glass films for viewing x-rays, micro- and nano-electronics, glasses on which bacteria cannot grow, glasses for hydrogen storage, and more.
Jain says the IMI will seek to stem the worldwide fragmentation of glass research caused in the past 20 years by the elimination of industrial labs and the shift of government funding to nanotechnology and the biosciences. Glass research at many universities today is usually conducted by a solitary faculty member, says Jain. As a result, science and engineering students are not well-prepared to become professional glass scientists or engineers.
Jain says the IMI will also promote glass research in the US, whose leadership in the field is being challenged by nations in Europe and Asia.
The IMI, a collaboration between Lehigh and Penn State University (University Park, PA), will receive $3.25 million over the five-year lifetime of the NSF grant, which is renewable. Additional funds will be provided by Lehigh.
Jain, the Diamond Chair Professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh, has studied glass for 25 years and collaborated with researchers in Germany, Greece, India, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.