Texas Tech Hosts Inaugural Meeting of the National Energetic Materials Consortium

By Sally Post

The inaugural meeting of the National Energetic Materials Consortium (NEMC) wraps up today (Sept. 13). About 70 university researchers, national laboratory and industry experts from across the country attended the meeting, hosted by Texas Tech.

Heather Wilson, president of the South Dakota School of Mines presented the keynote address for the event.

The consortium has been formed by leading universities across the nation to combine the science and technology resources of the academic community with the manufacturing resources of private industry.

The aim of the consortium is to bring potentially disruptive but critically needed innovation to the energetics sector of the national technological industrial base. This consortium among university and industry partners will allow for a rapid transition of new materials to a modernized industrial base.

Superior energetic materials are in development that can enhance the range, effectiveness, survivability, and scalable performance effects required by our modern energetics and manufacturing systems. Michelle Pantoya, Texas Tech professor of mechanical engineering and chair of the meeting organizing committee, hopes that the inaugural consortium event will galvanize these efforts across the nation. It serves to establish a forum for university and industry experts interested in energetic materials and additive manufacturing innovation, in academic, private, and agency sectors, to exchange information on a range of specialized topics relevant to cutting-edge research and new technologies, and discuss the latest developments emerging in their fields.

The NEMC meeting is sponsored by the Texas Tech Office of Research & Innovation, Oak Ridge Association of Universities, Consolidated Nuclear Security and Orbital ATK.