Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
225 Church Street, Huntsville, Alabama 35801
Phone: (256) 535-2000
Fax: (256) 535-2015
hcc@hsvchamber.org
Research Centers - Academic/University
Academic Research Centers at the
University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)
UAH Center for Applied Optics
The Center for Applied Optics (CAO) advances optical science and engineering research and development in support of high technology educational, industrial and government interests and requirements. The center includes eleven faculty and staff, with 23 affiliated faculty and staff from UAH's academic departments. The center includes CAD and optomechanical design facilities, as well as diamond turning, optical fabrication, metrology, holography, testing and prototyping of state-of-the-art optical components and systems.
Center researchers are exploring unique applications of optics for numerous space, military and industrial uses. Excellent research personnel and laboratory resources make the CAO uniquely qualified to perform state-of-the-art research.
UAH Aerophysics Research Center
The Aerophysics Research Center (ARC), at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal, houses three "soft" launch, two-stage light gas gun systems and extensive support facilities. These include instrumentation and data-gathering equipment and laboratories, test chambers, and model and target fabrication shops. Major experimental areas involve hypervelocity impact and hypervelocity re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The instrumented test chamber for aerophysics experiments can be pumped down to simulate flight conditions from sea level to about 70 km altitude.
Propulsion Research Center
The Propulsion Research Center (PRC) serves the propulsion community through propulsion-related research, and encourages the implementation of propulsion-related studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Research emphases include hybrid rockets, ducted rockets, solar thermal rockets, solid and liquid propellant combustion, turbo-machinery bearings and seals, and gelled liquid propellants.
The PRC has extensive research facilities, including High Pressure and Low Pressure Combustion Labs, equipped with strand burners capable of pressures up to 3,200 psia, and a flat flame burner for low-pressure gas and particulate combustion studies. PRC research facilities also include an injector-spray facility with cold-flow capability for inert and gelled liquids, a Solar Thermal Laboratory (with a 5kW thermal faceted concentrator under construction), a 4-foot thin-film concentrator (2kW), and a bearing and seals facility suitable for static testing of gas seals and foil bearings.
UAH Center for Microgravity and Materials Research
The Center for Microgravity and Materials Research (CMMR) seeks to provide theoretical and experimental underpinning for the optimal use of low-gravity conditions for materials processing and more fundamental physico-chemical investigations.
CMMR operates through individual research groups within the Center, and through collaborative work between CMMR staff, faculty members and students, and researchers at other U.S. and foreign institutions. Research activities span computational and experimental fluid dynamics investigations, including transport property measurements; crystal growth kinetics and morphology studies with some emphasis on protein crystallization; and space flight hardware.
Consortium for Materials Development in Space
The Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS) is a NASA Commercial Space Center. The CMDS sponsors industry-supported projects in materials development that show commercial potential. Activities focus on developing specific materials, addressing generic processes or equipment for product development, and pursuing space investigations that generate knowledge of value in Earth-based processes.
Project areas include polymer foam and films, nonlinear optical materials, superconductivity, electrodeposition and codeposition, sintered and alloyed materials, and materials dispersion and biodynamics. All projects have flown on either suborbital rockets or aboard the Space Shuttle. CMDS resources include flight hardware and extensive experience in designing, fabricating and integrating flight hardware.
UAH Laboratory For Materials and Surface Sciences
The Laboratory for Materials and Surface Sciences is a multidisciplinary, interdepartmental center embracing faculty and research staff from several academic programs, including chemistry, physics, electrical and computer engineering, chemical and materials engineering, and biological sciences. Laboratory resources include approximately $2.5 million of equipment for materials characterization, including three atomic force microscopes in the Atomic Force Microscopy Lab.
UAH Laboratory for Structural Biology
The Laboratory for Structural Biology conducts both basic and applied research using X-ray crystallography to determine the three-dimensional structures of biological molecules. These structures can be used to guide the development of new pharmaceuticals. The laboratory is capable of gene cloning, over expression, purification and crystallization of proteins. The diffraction facility includes a Rigaku rotating anode generator, R-AXIS IV area detector, X-stream cryogenic system, and a single-crystal diffractometer. A network of Silicon Graphics workstations and Alabama Supercomputer Center resources meet the computational needs of the Laboratory.
Research Institute
The Research Institute, created in 1961, conducts theoretical and experimental research pertinent to aerospace science and rocket technology, primarily in support of the U.S. Army and NASA. The Institute also provides training to scientists and engineers through active involvement in research projects.
The Research Institute is organized into separate laboratories focused on technologies of particular relevance to customer organizations. These focus areas include Systems Management and Production, Defense Studies, Software Engineering, Aerothermal Effects, Structural Dynamics, and Simulation and Visualization. Individual laboratories carry out research activities in close collaboration with customer colleagues.
Center for Space Plasma And Aeronomic Research
The Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) is dedicated to fostering excellence in research and graduate education in the study of plasmas and atmospheres in the solar system and astrophysical environments. CSPAR addresses complex research questions through a wide range of experimental, theoretical, and computer simulation techniques.
Specific areas of expertise at CSPAR include low-energy plasmas in the magnetosphere and ionosphere; the physics of solar flares; the modeling of 3-D solar magnetic fields and their variability; solar-interplanetary dynamics, which form the basis for space weather research; EUV and gamma ray astrophysics investigations; electrostatic charging of spacecraft; optical measurements of the neutral thermosphere; modeling the ionosphere-thermosphere system; and using this fundamental knowledge to develop technology for predicting space weather.
Earth System Science Center
The Earth System Science Laboratory (ESSL) was created to encourage interdisciplinary study of the Earth as an integrated system across traditional boundaries. The ESSL has a diverse scientific staff, including meteorologists, biologists, geologists, mathematicians and computer scientists.
The ESSL is involved in several areas of Earth System research, ranging from evaluation of global-scale climate models to regional studies of the coupled atmosphere/ocean/ice systems of the Antarctic, and from studying regional severe weather to measuring the climate impact of the global distribution of aerosols. A particular strength of the ESSL is developing and applying satellite data, including the development of long-term datasets.
Johnson Research Center
The Johnson Research Center (JRC) is focused on a variety of energy and environmental topics, ranging from electric vehicle testing and solar-generated power to atmospheric and environmental monitoring. Today, the JRC continues its mission in several areas: biomass utilization associated with the environmentally-sound disposal of municipal solid wastes, response of human cells and tissues to the low-gravity conditions of space, technical assistance to industry on energy efficiency improvements, and analytical laboratory services to individuals and industrial customers.
JRC is also pursuing several new areas, such as the development of fiber optic sensors for in situ measurements of soil and water contaminants, use of bacteria to convert woody biomass to useful products, and the application of selected polymers to chemically remediate hazardous wastes.
Information Technology and Systems Center
The Information Technology and Systems Laboratory was established to address large-scale data and information problems. The Laboratory is active in several information technology areas, including the design, development and management of large scientific databases and knowledge bases; the development of state-of-the-art distributed information management systems, used to access multi-level data in support of the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System; the development of advanced searching techniques, such as content-based data-mining technology that permits the discovery of scientifically-significant phenomena within large data holdings; and the development of techniques for security-oriented inference detection.
UAH Center for Automation and Robotics
UAH's Center for Automation and Robotics promotes research activities for increasing productivity in manufacturing through the use of state-of-the-art technologies and development of advanced techniques for the future. Center research is focused on materials, materials processing with a focus on applications in low gravity, intelligent systems, non-destructive inspection, and manufacturing systems.
The Center for Automation and Robotics is also the Region 1 center for the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institutes of Standards and Technologies Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP). MEP helps manufacturers become more competitive and productive. Assistance provided includes manufacturing assistance, business and management analysis and counseling, advanced manufacturing technologies, and workforce training.
UAH Center for Management & Economic Research
The Center for Management and Economic Research (CMER) stimulates expansion of North Alabama's economy by helping local managers define and realize growth opportunities, and solve specific problems. The center serves individuals and organizations through management and technical assistance, and dissemination of economic and socio-economic information. Special emphasis is placed on businesses in technological fields.
CMER offers customized training programs in diverse management areas, such as microcomputer applications, accounting information systems, strategic management, marketing, finance, organizational design, competitive positioning, communication, and international business.
Systems Management & Production Lab
The UAH Systems Management and Production Lab (SMAP Lab) was created in 1987 as a division of the UAH Research Institute. In 2001 it was elevated to function as a separate research entity to provide technical management and engineering support to the Army Aviation & Missile Command, NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center, and a growing number of other public- and private-sector organizations.
The SMAP Lab provides on-site expertise to its customers to address a variety of technological and engineering problems. Primary areas of interest include Engineering Management, Microelectronic Technology Assessments, Internet-based Work Flow Applications, Configuration Management, Local Area Network Research and Development, Collaborative Engineering Techniques, Visualization-based Design, Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals, Software Development and Engineering Studies.
Center for the Management of Science & Technology
The Center for the Management of Science and Technology (CMOST) is devoted to improving the state-of-the-art in the management of science and technology. CMOST conducts research to develop new management techniques, is a "window on the world" source of the latest practices, and serves as a world-wide center for scientists, researchers and managers interested in the management of science and technology.
CMOST focuses on the management of RandD, engineering, innovation, manufacturing, high-tech marketing, and new product development. CMOST services include research, consulting and training. CMOST is especially interested in non-routine, interdisciplinary management problems that are at the forefront of emerging disciplines.
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