*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
The concept of materials by design and "bottom-up" approaches to material engineering have been around for more three decades. More recently, these approaches have become nearly ubiquitous in grand challenges and federal initiatives, such as Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), and the Big Data Research and Development Initiative. Dr. David Stepp, with more than 15 years of experience in the Materials Science Division at the U.S. Army Research Office, will provide a brief historical perspective on these approaches to materials science, discuss their strengths and their weaknesses in the broader context of extending the frontiers of materials science, critique some of the recent grand challenges and initiatives from this perspective, and seek to identify a viable path forward in materials design.
About David M. Stepp, PhD
Dr. Stepp has served as the Chief of the Materials Science Division at the Army Research Office since 2004, and as Chief of the Mechanical Behavior of Materials research branch since 1999. As chief of the Materials Science division, he oversees four scientific branches (totaling approximately $50M in extramural basic research) seeking to extend the frontiers of materials science in order to realize unprecedented material properties. These unprecedented material properties provide new foundations and paradigms to enhance future war fighter and battle systems capabilities. As chief of the mechanical behavior of materials research branch, he oversees a diverse array of more than 50 extramural research programs seeking to develop and explore materials with revolutionary properties and function totaling more than $20M annually. He serves as the U.S. Army and deputy ASD (R&E) representative to the NSTC Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET), and as the U.S. Army representative to the Technical Cooperation Program MAT-TP-5: Nondestructive Characterization and Material State Awareness. Dr. Stepp earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University in 1998, where he investigated the high-strain rate deformation and damage accumulation mechanisms governing tantalum and developed a novel, statistically-based, computational algorithm to enhance positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy under the guidance of Dr. Phillip Jones. He has published research in the areas of smart materials, structural ceramics, and polymer degradation and failure mechanisms.
