“At Penn State, we’re all about collaborative research rooted in basic science with a vision toward shaping the future,” said Greenert. “Aligned with the University’s new National Security Institute, CEDE will boost our capacity to deliver innovations in national security technologies, all while building up the nation’s workforce in directed energy and related fields.”
As part of the center’s efforts to coordinate directed energy research across Penn State, the CEDE leadership team is hosting a kickoff meeting on April 22 and 23 to announce the center and its vision to the larger research community, including government and industry stakeholders. Advanced registration is required.
In support of the center, Penn State has invested in facilities for directed energy fabrication and testing, 4D material characterization and high-performance computing. The University is also planning to make strategic faculty hires and graduate fellowships in DE-focused disciplines. The center will be located in a new laboratory space in the Engineering Collaborative Research and Education (ECoRE) building, shared with the Computational Electromagnetics and Antennas Research Lab (CEARL).
“Our goal is to create synergies across the research community, building up collaborations and strengthening the workforce with a shared vision of making the nation safer,” Poudel said. “The beauty of basic research is that our discoveries have a broad range of applications, so the work we do will have impacts across many dimensions of society.”