Author: Heike Brueckner

Reliable Data & Realistic Simulations for the Manufacturing Industry

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The Center for Materials Property Data (CMPD) is a multi-university effort with industry that generates and collects transient materials property data for manufacturing process models and materials behavior discovery. These data are vital to the accuracy of the models and can significantly reduce the high costs and time spent on trial-and-error methods that have been used for years.

The center was established by three academic institutions, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Connecticut, and the University at Buffalo, in cooperation with ASM International. Each academic partner brings unique scientific expertise to the program while ASM International serves as the materials data archive, enabling easy access to data by industry members and non-members.

CMPD is a collaborative, member-driven center. Portfolio projects are proposed by member companies and carried out by the academic members. Member companies help govern the center, have unrestricted access to data, select and share management of data generation projects, and benefit from shared expertise.

CMPD also has access to UConn Tech Park’s state-of-the-art equipment, a tremendous resource for collecting dynamic materials property data. More sophisticated equipment means better data; better data means more reliable models and better predictions of material behavior during processing.

The CMPD approach is becoming a more common trend in industry, with a shift away from the trial-and-error approach for process development and a desire to be able to model and predict materials behaviors.

Executive Director of UConn Tech Park Pamir Alpay is confident the program will continue to thrive and advance the university as a leader in innovation for manufacturing research and materials engineering. “CMPD is a massive project and plays a significant role in everything we’re doing at Tech Park on manufacturing technologies,” he says. “It’s a huge effort that serves a large community and it is making a big impact.”

For more information on CMPD, visit https://cmpd.asminternational.org/home.

Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity at UConn Tech Park

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image of Stealing personal data through a laptop concept for computer hacker, network security and electronic banking securityOur culture is arguably becoming more and more dependent on ubiquitous information technology. Digital devices play a critical role for healthcare, banking, commerce, entertainment, manufacturing and more. Meanwhile, our digital tools are constantly vulnerable to ongoing attacks meant to steal private and personal information, intellectual property, trade secrets, financial records or even voter databases.

The Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity at Tech Park and Synchrony have formed a partnership committed to safeguarding the infrastructures and organizations at the heart of our digital economy. They are taking a two-pronged approach to tackle this issue, by developing information security talent and conducting leading research that best supports the companies and consumers struggling to stay ahead of these threats.

Laurent Michel, professor in UConn’s Computer Science and Engineering Department and Center Director for the Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity, believes this approach is imperative to developing sound strategies for reducing vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

As a consumer financial services company, Synchrony maintains a vested interest in protecting their customers from cybersecurity breaches. They have provided generous support to the center since its inception, including an endowment for the Synchrony Chair in Cybersecurity held by Laurent Michel, with a focus on leadership in the advancement of education and research in cybersecurity. Synchrony has also provided funding for a Cybersecurity Fellows Program and a scholarship program for UConn graduate students to conduct independent cybersecurity research.

The Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity is one of four member centers of the Connecticut Advanced Computing Center (CACC), an umbrella group with a broader overarching purpose. A key goal for CACC and its member centers is to break new technology grounds and advance innovative solutions to prevent, detect and cope with the spectrum of attacks that threaten information technology systems.

Within CACC, the Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity addresses threats to financial organizations as well as the assessment and adoption of cyber-technologies susceptible to impact FinTech.  The three sister centers specialize in critical areas such as networking products deployed in businesses and homes, hardware security and ensuring safe and secure elections in the State.

Staying ahead of this maelstrom of digital infiltrators is a constantly evolving challenge. The Synchrony Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity and all the CACC centers offer to agencies, industries and the public at large, the necessary education, awareness and transparent technology they need to continue to operate effectively in such adversarial environments.

Laurent Michel is an internationally recognized expert in the area of cybersecurity. He was appointed Synchrony Chair for Cybersecurity in December 2019 and is also co-Director of CACC.

Click here for more information on Michel and his academic work. For more information on CACC and its other member centers, click here.