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Aerophysics Research Center
Dr. Richard G. Rhoades, director
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UAH's Aerophysics Research Center (ARC), at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal, houses three "soft" launch, two-stage light gas gun systems and extensive support facilities. These include instrumentation and data- gathering equipment and laboratories, test chambers, and model and target fabrication shops. The gun systems launch models at velocities from about 1.8 to 8 km/seconds, depending on the model's mass. The largest gun system has launched six-inch diameter models weighing 5.5 kg at 3 km/s. Various types of model configurations have been launched. Major experimental areas involve hypervelocity impact and hypervelocity re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The instrumented test chamber for aerophysics experiments can be pumped down to simulate flight conditions from sea level to about 70 km altitude. Hypervelocity experiments performed in the ARC are low cost and fast turnaround relative to full-scale flight tests and can be thoroughly instrumented to gather data needed to understand the phenomenology and physics involved. |
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Center for Applied Optics
Dr. Joseph Geary, interim director
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UAH's Center for Applied Optics advances optical science and engineering research and development in support of high technology educational, industrial and government interests and requirements. The center includes eleven faculty and staff, with 23 affiliated faculty and staff from UAH's academic departments. The center includes CAD and optomechanical design facilities, as well as diamond turning, optical fabrication, metrology, holography, testing and prototyping of state-of-the-art optical components and systems. Center researchers are exploring unique applications of optics for numerous space, military and industrial uses. Excellent research personnel and laboratory resources make the CAO uniquely qualified to perform state-of-the-art research. |
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Center for Automation
Dr. Bernard Schroer, director
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UAH's Center for Automation and Robotics promotes research activities for increasing productivity in manufacturing through the use of state-of-the-art technologies and development of advanced techniques for the future. Center research is focused on materials, materials processing with a focus on applications in low gravity, intelligent systems, non-destructive inspection, and manufacturing systems. The center also is the Region 1 center for the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institutes of Standards and Technologies' Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP). MEP helps manufacturers become more competitive and productive. Assistance provided includes manufacturing assistance, business and management analysis and counseling, advanced manufacturing technologies, and workforce training. |
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Center for Management
Dr. C. David Billings, director
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UAH's Center for Management and Economic Research (CMER) stimulates expansion of North Alabama's economy by helping local managers define and realize growth opportunities, and solve specific problems. The center serves individuals and organizations through management and technical assistance, and dissemination of economic and socio-economic information. Special emphasis is placed on businesses in technological fields. Research areas include, but are not limited to, information systems, accounting, business strategy, marketing, organization behavior, personnel administration, labor relations, and organizational development. The center offers customized training programs in diverse management areas, such as microcomputer applications, accounting information systems, strategic management, marketing, finance, organizational design, competitive positioning, communication, and international business. |
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Center for Microgravity
Dr. Robert J. Naumann, associate director
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UAH's Center for Microgravity and Materials Research (CMMR) seeks to provide theoretical and experimental underpinning for the optimal use of low-gravity conditions for materials processing and more fundamental physico-chemical investigations. The objectives are pursued by individual research groups within the center, and through collaborative work between CMMR staff, faculty members and students, as well as researchers at other U.S. and foreign institutions. Research activities span computational and experimental fluid dynamics investigations, including transport property measurements; crystal growth kinetics and morphology studies with some emphasis on protein crystallization; and space flight hardware. |
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Center for Space Plasma
Dr. S.T. Wu, director
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UAH's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) is dedicated to fostering excellence in research and graduate education in the study of plasmas and atmospheres in the solar system and astrophysical environments. CSPAR's specific areas of expertise include low-energy plasmas in the magnetosphere and ionosphere; the physics of solar flares; modeling of 3-D solar magnetic fields and their variability; solar-interplanetary dynamics, which formed the basis for space weather research; EUV and gamma ray astrophysics investigations; electrostatic charging of spacecraft; optical measurements of the neutral thermosphere; modeling the ionosphere-thermosphere system; and using this fundamental knowledge to develop technology for predicting space weather. A wide range of experimental, theoretical and computer simulation techniques arising from several disciplines in science and engineering characterize CSPAR's approach to addressing the complex questions inherent to these physical systems. |
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Center for the Management
Dr. David Berkowitz, director
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UAH's Center for the Management of Science and Technology (CMOST) is devoted to improving the state-of-the-art in the management of science and technology. CMOST conducts research to develop new management techniques, is a "window on the world" source of the latest practices, and serves as a world-wide center for scientists, researchers and managers interested in the management of science and technology. CMOST focuses on the management of RandD, engineering, innovation, manufacturing, high-tech marketing, and new product development. CMOST services include research, consulting and training. CMOST is especially interested in non-routine, interdisciplinary management problems that are at the forefront of emerging disciplines. |
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Consortium for Materials
Dr. William E. Gathings, director
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UAH's Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS) is a NASA Commercial Space Center. The CMDS sponsors industry-supported projects in materials development that show commercial potential. Activities focus on developing specific materials, addressing generic processes or equipment for product development, and pursuing space investigations that generate knowledge of value in Earth-based processes. Project areas include: polymer foam and films; nonlinear optical materials; superconductivity; electrodeposition and codeposition; sintered and alloyed materials; materials dispersion and biodynamics. All have flown on either suborbital rockets or aboard the space shuttle. CMDS resources include flight hardware and extensive experience in designing, fabricating and integrating flight hardware. |
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Earth System Science
Dr. John R. Christy, director
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UAH's Earth System Science Center (ESSC) was created to encourage interdisciplinary study of the Earth as an integrated system across traditional boundaries. It has a diverse scientific staff, including meteorologists, biologists, geologists, mathematicians and computer scientists. The ESSL is involved in several areas of Earth System research, ranging from evaluation of global-scale climate models to regional studies of the coupled atmosphere/ocean/ice systems of the Antarctic, and from studying regional severe weather to measuring the climate impact of the global distribution of aerosols. A particular strength is developing and applying satellite data, including the development of long-term datasets. |
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Humanities Center
Dr. Brian Martine, director
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The Humanities Center supports the research activities of faculty members in such fields as history, literature, languages, and philosophy, as well as those of people in other disciplines who do humanities-related research. Through endowed funds, the Center makes several awards annually to faculty members who need money to work in archives and libraries across the United States and abroad. These awards also support other costs of research such as acquiring microforms and duplication. Through the same endowment, the Center contributes roughly $15,000 each year paying for faculty members to present the results of their research at scholarly meetings. Through the Louis Salmon Humanities Center Library Endowment, the Center purchases significant books, microforms, and machine-readable materials for the library. The Center also provides material and administrative support for contracts and grants activities in the College of Liberal Arts. For example, in 2001-2003 the Center administered the International Business Studies Initiative (IBSI). This was an interdisciplinary project between the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Administrative Science and the North Alabama International Trade Association. The Center is currently administering a Global Studies project, and also provides matching funds for public programming grants from such organizations as the Alabama Humanities Foundation. |
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Information Technology
Dr. Sara Graves, director
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The Information Technology and Systems Center (ITSC) serves as the focal
point for UAH research endeavors in information technology. The center is
actively involved in local, state, regional, national and international
information technology activities and serves as a catalyst in innovative
pursuits in information technology. In support of these activities, the
center is currently performing research and development in the areas of
distributed information systems, next generation internet, data mining and
knowledge discovery, information system interoperability, image
processing, data interchange technology, grid computing, and knowledge
representation.
The center is uniquely positioned to facilitate the integration of data,
information, and knowledge sources across a diverse group of public,
research, corporate, and government sectors. ITSC has extensive experience
in the areas of active archives, data cataloging and order processing
which has provided the foundation for research into areas such as
efficient data storage and retrieval, subsetting of data, data
integration, and cross site interoperability. |
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Johnson Research Center
Dr. John R. Christy, director
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UAH's Johnson Research Center has focused, since its inception, on a variety of energy and environmental topics, ranging from electric vehicle testing and solar-generated power to atmospheric and environmental monitoring. Today, the JRC continues its mission in several areas: biomass utilization associated with the environmentally-sound disposal of municipal solid wastes, response of human cells and tissues to the low-gravity conditions of space, technical assistance to industry on energy efficiency improvements, and analytical laboratory services to individuals and industrial customers. JRC is also pursuing several new areas, such as the development of fiber optics sensors for in situ measurements of soil and water contaminants, use of bacteria to convert woody biomass to useful products, and the application of selected polymers to chemically remediate hazardous wastes. |
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Laboratory For Materials
Dr. John Gregory, director
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The Laboratory for Materials and Surface Sciences is a multidisciplinary, interdepartmental center embracing faculty and research staff from several academic programs, including chemistry, physics, electrical and computer engineering, chemical and materials engineering, and soon to add biological sciences. This is complemented by about $2.5 million of equipment for materials characterization. This includes the atomic force microscopy lab, which has three atomic force microscopes. |
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Laboratory for Structural
Dr. Edward J. Meehan, director
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The Laboratory for Structural Biology conducts both basic and applied research using X-ray crystallography to determine the three-dimensional structures of biological molecules. These structures can be used to guide the development of new pharmaceuticals. The laboratory is capable of gene cloning, over expression, purification and crystallization of proteins. The diffraction facility includes a Rigaku rotating anode generator, R-AXIS IV area detector, X-stream cryogenic system, and a single-crystal diffractometer. A network of Silicon Graphics workstations and the Alabama Supercomputer Network meet the lab's computational needs. |
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Northeast Alabama Regional
Dr. William Killingsworth, director
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The Northeast Alabama Regional Small Business Development Center (NEAR SBDC) provides assistance to small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. The center provides business management counseling, startup counseling, training/workshops, and a resource library. Small business owners or managers can receive professional assistance and direction in any of the following areas: financial capital, business planning, personnel, record keeping, licensing, taxes, intellectual property, government procurement, governmental regulations, marketing, commercialization, small business innovation and research programs, market research, inventory control, or how to conduct a feasibility study. Small business owners and entrepreneurs may visit the resource library and use business planning guides, watch or check out more than two dozen videos on business management, or work interactively with the Internet, Electronic Data Interchange demos, or Electronic Commerce demos. |
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Propulsion Research Center
Dr. Clark Hawk, director
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UAH's Propulsion Research Center serves the propulsion community through propulsion-related research, and encourages the implementation of propulsion-related studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Research emphases include hybrid rockets, ducted rockets, solar thermal rockets, solid and liquid propellant combustion, turbomachinery bearings and seals, and gelled liquid propellants. The center's research facilities include the High Pressure Combustion Lab, which is equipped with strand burners/combustion bomb capable of pressures to 3,200 psia with a full range of temperature conditioning for the propellant; the Low Pressure Combustion Lab, which is equipped with a flat flame burner for low-pressure gas and particulate combustion studies; an injector spray facility with cold-flow capability for inert and gelled liquids; the Solar Thermal Laboratory, with a 5 kW (thermal) faceted concentrator under construction and a 4-foot thin film concentrator (2kW); and a bearing and seals facility suitable for static testing of gas seals and foil bearings. |
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Research Institute
Dr. Richard G. Rhoades, director
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UAH's Research Institute was created in 1961 to provide scientific and engineering staff to conduct theoretical and experimental research pertinent to aerospace science and rocket technology, primarily in support of the U.S. Army and NASA, and to train scientists and engineers through active involvement in research. The Research Institute is organized into laboratories to provide focus on technologies of particular relevance to its customers. These include: Systems Management and Production, Defense Studies, Software Engineering, Aerothermal Effects, Structural Dynamics, and Simulation and Visualization. Several of these carry out their research in close collaboration with their customer colleagues. |
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Systems Management & Production Center
Dr. Gary A. Maddux, director
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The UAH Systems Management and Production Center (SMAP Center) was created
in 1987 as a division of the UAH Research Institute. In 2001 it was elevated
to function as a separate research center to provide technical management
and engineering support to the Army Aviation & Missile Command, NASA's
Marshal Space Flight Center, and a growing number of other public- and
private-sector organizations.
The SMAP Center provides on-site expertise to its customers to address a
variety of technological and engineering problems. Primary areas of interest
include Engineering Management, Microelectronic Technology Assessments,
Internet-based Work Flow Applications, Configuration Management, Local Area
Network Research and Development, Collaborative Engineering Techniques,
Visualization-based Design, Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals,
Software Development and Engineering Studies.
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webmaster@www.uah.edu |
© 1999 The University of Alabama
in Huntsville |
Last Updated:
May 14, 2001 |