University of Idaho (U of I), a partner in the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) consortium, hosted an Intelligent Manufacturing for Extreme Environments (IMEE) workshop in Idaho Falls on May 2 and 3. Approximately 50 researchers and content experts, members of academia, students and industry professionals attended the event held in the CAES facility.
IMEE took a deep dive into the heart of intelligent manufacturing to gain inspiration for future projects and provided opportunities for colleagues to network.
Attendees heard from experts representing national labs and universities who are addressing the challenges of manufacturing in harsh environments. The novelty of IMEE was how the presentations showed convergence in the integration of computational design, process control, materials discovery and characterization and workforce development.
According to John Russell, CAES-U of I associate director and member of the workshop organizing committee, “I feel the strength in the event was providing a venue for researchers to share their projects and results, and to foster new collaborations to advance the potential of intelligent manufacturing.”
IMEE also included opportunities for the attendees to participate in interactive breakout sessions where they discussed real-time examples of the work being done and how the challenges with the work are being addressed.
“The participants’ fruitful discussion and idea sharing was truly inspiring,” stated Russell. “The event met its goals and laid the groundwork for future academic-industry-government partnerships that will secure growth in intelligent manufacturing projects.”
For more information on IMEE, visit the Intelligent Manufacturing for Extreme Environments (IMEE) workshop website.
This work was primarily supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2328585. It was also supported by State of Idaho appropriated funding for CAES and utilized equipment at CAES provided by Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy-Idaho Operations Office (an agency of the U.S. Government) Contract DE-AC07-05ID145142.
Disclaimer: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed at this workshop are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.