A Study on Creating the MGI Workforce

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Non-technical description: Now in its seventh year, the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) represents a multi-agency partnership aimed at getting materials to market twice as fast and at a fraction of the cost of what would be possible through traditional research methods. This will be accomplished through the development of a materials innovation infrastructure that involves a tight coupling among computational tools, experimental tools, and digital data. The MGI Strategic Plan highlights four goals, one of which is to create a world-class materials-science and engineering workforce that is trained for careers in academia or industry. This study will engage a team of high-profile subject matter experts including representatives from across academia, industry, and government to evaluate the current status of this objective and develop actionable guidance for creating this workforce. The final report, which will be made readily available to the community, will serve as a roadmap for the development of both the near-term and future MGI workforce. Technical description: The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) represents a multi-agency partnership aimed at accelerating the progression of materials research along the materials development continuum in order to get materials to market in half the time and at a fraction of the cost of what would be possible through traditional research methods. This will be accomplished through the development of a materials innovation infrastructure that involves a tight iterative feedback loop among computational tools, experimental tools, and digital data. The MGI Strategic Plan highlights four goals, one of which is to create a world-class materials-science and engineering workforce that is trained for careers in academia or industry. This study will engage a team of high-profile subject matter experts including representatives from across academia, industry, and government to discuss key gaps and needs and develop recommendations for creating this workforce. The final output of the study will be a report that addresses three study objectives: 1) assess the current state of the academic curriculum and training approaches of the United States workforce to accomplish MGI goals, 2) identify the key MGI skill requirements and needs for individuals entering the workforce, and 3) outline curricula development and training guidelines to improve readiness of current students and the existing professional workforce, through a series of detailed, actionable recommendations. The final report will serve as a roadmap for the development of both the near-term and future MGI workforce. The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society will leverage and build upon its communications infrastructure to provide sustained coverage of this project including broad dissemination of the final report.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.