This collaboration was fueled by the IMR-operated Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability Discovery Theme to ensure both institutions could leverage existing strengths to connect diverse ideas and people across communities to solve complex global problems related to energy harvesting, storage and systems; high-performance materials and structures; materials for sustainable information processing; and beyond.
Frontier Center History
The Frontier Center is the culmination of a half decade of collaborative efforts pursued by Ohio State’s Institute for Materials Research (IMR) and IIT Bombay.
Collaboration
IMR collaborated with the Office of International Affairs India Gateway to ensure a strong connection could form between the university's materials research community and Indian companies and universities through a series of meetings, during a week-long visit to Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai in February 2014. The success of these initial meetings led to a delegation from leading Indian companies in the materials and energy sectors to visit Ohio State’s Columbus campus later that year. In January 2015, University President Michael V. Drake and a delegation from Ohio State traveled to Mumbai to form a partnership with IIT Bombay focused on advanced materials and manufacturing, solar energy, semiconductor devices and bioengineering. The partnership continually strengthened, resulting in the funding of two Global Partnership Grants between IMR and IIT-Bombay, as well as the development of joint workshops, research grants, additional collaborations and, ultimately, the IIT Bombay-Ohio State Frontier Science and Engineering Research Center.
Founders
Steven Ringel
Executive Director of the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research, The Ohio State University
Ardeshir Contractor
Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research, The Ohio State University
Juzer Vasi
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
In April 2019, following a five-year partnership, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and The Ohio State University (Ohio State) established the IIT Bombay-Ohio State Frontier Science and Engineering Research Center. Led by joint faculty and staff, the center's core is its Frontier Scholars program, through which doctoral students conduct research projects co-developed and co-advised by faculty members from both universities. Scholars spend 6–12 months at the partnering institution, conducting research that leverages institutional strengths to advance public and private sectors, while providing students with cutting-edge, multicultural research experiences. Since its inception, the Frontier Center has supported 23 projects, with 30 Frontier Scholars and 47 co-advising faculty. Research topics span, but are not limited to, advanced compound and wide-bandgap semiconductor technologies; renewable energy technologies; photonics and imaging; high voltage power electronics and systems, and quantum science. Emerging areas include applications of artificial intelligence to these and other areas. The center also hosts quarterly technical webinars and on-site workshops at both institutions.
