The Center recognizes that its success depends on active industry support for its research programs and rapid transfer of technology to its industrial partners. Two very important committees constitute the governance system of the Center. The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), consisting of all Industrial Partners, establishes the priorities of educational and research programs and evaluates the progress towards the Center's goals. The Technical Executive Committee (TEC) of the IAB is constituted to represent the broad spectrum of membership and ensures the overall synergy of the research carried out in various thrust areas. It recommends to the Center Director any mid-course corrections in research direction and/or personnel, if necessary. The TEC is elected by the IAB members.
Current Technical Executive Committee (TEC)
- Mr. Dave Cannon - Colloidal Dynamics
- Dr. Rajni Jani - Alcon Laboratories
- Mr. Pat Macy - Kemira Chemicals, Inc.
- Dr. Sharad Mathur - BASF Catalysts LLC
- Dr. Phil Plantz - Microtrac
- Dr. Guenter Stroh - Degussa Corporation
- Mr. Greg Spontak - CHAIR - Procter & Gamble Company
- Dr. Weili Yu - Pfizer
- Dr. Patrick Zhang - FIPR
The Technical Advisory Committees (TACs), comprised of industrial partners, sets research priorities in individual research thrusts and ensures synergy among research projects in the thrust areas. The TAC recommends to the IAB changes in research direction and/or personnel to better achieve the goals of the thrust areas.
The Manager of the Industrial Partners Program is responsible for the creation and implementation of research collaborations with large and small companies and help to create partnerships to develop and use new technologies.
An important feature of this Center is the establishment of the R&D facility to assist the faculty in research, and facilitate research from bench scale to pilot scale level. With the continuing trend in the industry towards "downsizing," pilot level facilities in an industrial environment are becoming scarce. Thus the testbed facility provides industry with an invaluable resource for conducting pilot scale tests. This facility is available to industrial partners for a nominal fee to cover the operational costs.
In order to achieve an effective, informal, and interactive exchange of information, an Industrial Partners Program (IPP) has been developed to strongly encourage active participation by industry personnel. A vigorous technology transfer program involves distribution of newsletters to industry, organization of various seminar series, topical workshops, research reports and semi-annual meetings with our industrial partners.
Industry Representatives play an important role in the evaluation of research, and the direction of the research conducted at the Center. The majority of the members for both the Policy and Planning Advisory Board and the Technical Advisory Committees come from the Industrial Partners Program. These committees meet twice a year to plan and assess the Center's research and educational programs.