Two University professors lead a statewide coalition of researchers and professors that received a massive grant from the National Science Foundation, according to a University news release sent out Monday.
Physics professor Mark Jarrell and chemistry professor Randall Hall head the Louisiana Alliance for Simulation-Guided Materials Applications, or LA SiGMA. The group recently received a Track One Research Infrastructure Improvement Grant worth $20 million over five years — one of the largest the NSF has given, according the release.
The group will use the money to create a state-of-the-art communication system to network researchers throughout the state. High-definition monitors and communications software will allow researchers throughout the state to participate in “group meetings” remotely.
The technology would also allow graduate students at one university to draw upon the expertise of and learn from professors at other universities.
“The idea is to bring together a critical mass of researchers throughout the state,” Hall said. “You can think of it as a virtual organization.”
LA SiGMA studies “computational material sciences,” using computers to study and test various industrial materials from disk drives to energy storage, according to the release.
The research money will be used to help researchers develop new computing technologies to better test and study those materials. Hall said research can’t easily be done via traditional methods.
“The computation allows you to reveal things you might not see in a lab,” he said. “Computation is being recognized as coequal with experiments.”
The NSF grant came through the Louisiana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, which is housed at the Louisiana Board of Regents.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]