ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | SEPTEMBER 2023 5 DOE FUNDS COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS The Department of Energy renewed funding for the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials (MICCoM), headquartered at the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The grant supports another three years at $3 million per year. Partnering universities include The University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, and the University of California, Davis. MICCoM’s mission is to apply theoretical methods and software to the understanding, simulation, and prediction of materials properties at the atomic and molecular scale. To achieve this, MICCoM develops and disseminates a suite of interoperable computer tools. It also establishes the validity of theoretical models and codes for determining the characteristics and behavior of materials. Another part of its mission is to provide searchable materials data that are reproducible with small margins of error, an urgent need in light of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Over the next three years, MICCoM will also emphasize energy saving by designing materials for low-power microelectronics. anl.gov. CASE PROJECT SUPPORTS CLEAN STEELMAKING Chemical engineer Rohan Akolkar of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, is leading a research team working to develop a zero-carbon, electrochemical process to produce iron metal from ore. Research partners include Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), The University of Arizona, and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the largest flat-rolled steel company in North America and a key supplier of automotive-grade steel. Akolkar’s team recently received $1 million from FEEDBACK / RESEARCH TRACKS the DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office. If it works, the project could be a first step toward eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by eventually replacing blast-furnace ironmaking with a new electrolytic-iron production process. Akolkar says his team has developed a novel electrolysis method: Using molten salts, electrochemistry can be performed at moderately high temperatures, which allows electrolytic metal production to be accomplished cost-effectively and at industrial scale. The DOE announced the Case award as part of a $135 million initiative involving 40 projects at universities, national laboratories, and companies in 21 states. The goal is to reduce industrial carbon pollution and move the U.S. toward a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The Case project is among 10 focused on decarbonizing iron and steel. The DOE also funded projects for decarbonizing chemicals, cement and concrete, food and beverage products, paper and forest products, and other end products across a wide range of industries. case.edu. Akolkar leads Case’s clean steelmaking research team. AM&P WINS EDITORIAL AWARD Advanced Materials & Processes (AM&P) received some exciting feedback from the organizers of the prestigious 2023 Tabbie Awards conducted by Trade Association Business Publications International (TABPI). AM&P won the Silver Award for Editor’s Column! The winning column, “Preserving Culture,” appeared in AM&P April 2022. Revisit it here: https://static. asminternational.org/amp/202204/8/. AM&P also won Tabbies in the Technical Article category in 2021 for “Historic Monel—Part II” and in 2019 for an article in the Automotive Aluminum series. FEEDBACK We welcome all comments and suggestions. Send letters to joanne.miller@asminternational.org. 2023
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