The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) Foundation’s Ferrous Metallurgy Education Today’ (FeMET) Initiative, which is aimed at attracting top scholastic talent to the North American steel industry, is now accepting proposals for grants in two categories: Design, and also Curriculum Development, for the 2012–2013 school year.
AISI and the AIST Foundation together launched the FeMET Initiative to encourage more students to choose metallurgy or materials science as their field of study, to recruit more of such graduates into the steel industry and to increase the number of professors knowledgeable in steel in North American universities.
Design Grant Program
The FeMET Design Grant Program seeks innovative designs and solutions for industry-related issues. Student-professor teams are asked to address an important industry concern or challenge by working collaboratively. Proposals must include the team’s approach/methodology, including a budget and schedule. Proposals will be judged based on: technical approach and relation to the theme, probability of success and its potential benefits, and team qualifications. The program may award a grant of up to US$50k.
The theme for 2012 is ‘Steel uses in renewable energy infrastructure.’ Teams should quantify the benefits arising out of the proposed technique(s) and the study. Teams may propose to perform one or more comparative studies, as long as they remain within the budget parameters outlined in the proposal instructions.
Completed proposals must be submitted electronically, via PDF, to manufacturing@steel.org by 28 May 2012. Awardees will be announced 28 July 2012. Questions about the Design Grant Program and/or proposal process should be directed to BV Lakshminarayana at blakshminarayana@steel.org or +1.202.452.7143.
Curriculum Development Grant
FeMET Curriculum Development Grant proposals are being solicited from professors of ferrous metallurgy or materials science at North American universities for funding of a curriculum development assistant to enhance or update industry curriculum in ferrous metallurgy programs. The program objective is to use students to assist in the editing and updating of textbooks and/or other course materials for use in ferrous metallurgy education, with an underlying objective to increase industry awareness within the academic community. The proposals must indicate how the professor will approach the task, including budget and schedule requirements.
Up to five university professors will be awarded US$5000 each per year to fund initiatives designed to enhance or update industry curriculum in ferrous metallurgy programs. The maximum allowable time for a Curriculum Development Grant is five years, beginning in the fall of 2012, for a total of US$25000 per grant. The number of awards depends on funding availability.
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria: direct benefits to the iron and steel industry and the ferrous metallurgy/materials science programs in North America, the plan’s potential to increase the number of students studying metallurgy and materials science in North America, and the expertise and capabilities of the professor to fulfil the program objective.
Completed proposals must be submitted electronically, via PDF, to lwharrey@aist.org by 28 May 2012. Awardees will be announced 28 July 2012. Questions about the Curriculum Development Grant Program and/or proposal process should be directed to Lori Wharrey at lwharrey@aist.org or +1.724.814.3044.
