Technical Tours

The Future Of Manufacturing: Academic-Industrial Alignment

Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation, BU and Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing, NU

Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2022
Maximum Capacity: 50 participants
Restrictions: No photography will be permitted during the tour.
Tour Cost: $25.00 per person
Description
The Future of Manufacturing tour will examine where academia is applying its strengths in support of industrial innovation. Attendees will tour two highly innovative facilities, the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing and the Center for High-Rate Nanomanufacturing.

The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI), in collaboration with Boston University, performs government and industry funded research and development, and provides advanced technological and engineering solutions to both local and international companies. By bringing together faculty, students, and a full-time engineering staff, the Center goes beyond traditional academic research to develop and deploy complete technology solutions. The Center has extensive experience in the development of instruments, devices, and manufacturing automation systems for a variety of industries, including biotech/biomedical, photonics, semiconductor, and renewable energy. In addition, the Center has in-house biochemistry expertise and often takes on projects that are at the intersection of engineering and life sciences. Whether developing a new bio-assay for a molecular diagnostics chip, a first-of-a-kind medical device, or a next-generation turn-key automation system, the Center takes each project all the way to deployment. Part of the Fraunhofer Gessellschaft, Europe’s largest non-profit R&D organization with 70 institutes and over 18,000 employees worldwide, Fraunhofer performs its own preliminary research as well as being a valuable partner to industry and other research institutes and universities. Fraunhofer’s clients include fortune 500 companies all the way to small start-ups, as well as a number of US and European Government agencies. In this tour you will get to see some of the numerous labs on the Fraunhofer-BU premises and learn more about its current research initiatives in advanced manufacturing engineering research, development, and process design.

The visit to the NSF funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) at Northeastern University includes a guided tour of the NSF Center for Nano and Micro-Contamination Control and the George J. Kostas Nanoscale Technology and Manufacturing Research Center. Dr. Ahmed Busnaina, CHN Director, and Dr. Siva Somu, CHN Research Scientist & Technology Development Manager, will be talking about the research falling into four categories; large scale directed assembly & transfer research, applications & products, environmental health & safety research and regulatory & ethical research. Participants of this tour will also learn about the main goals to the center’s research including the closing of the gap between nanoscale science research and the creation of commercial products, the developing of processes and tools that will enable high-rate/high-volume, bottom-up, nanoscale directed assembly of nanoelements and polymer nanostructures and the delivery of the much-needed education in nanomanufacturing, including its environmental, economic, and societal implications, to the current and emerging workforce through partnerships among industry, universities, and K–12 teachers and students.
Schedule
Wednesday, July 11, 2022
1:00 pm Depart from Hynes Convention Center
1:15 pm Arrive at Fraunhofer, BU/CHN, NU
1:25 pm Background Briefing
1:40 pm Small Group Tours of Facility
2:25 pm Depart Fraunhofer, BU/CHN, NU
2:40 pm Arrive at CHN, NU/Fraunhofer, BU
2:50 pm Background Briefing
3:05 pm Small Group Tours of Facility
3:50 pm Depart Fraunhofer, BU/CHN, NU and return to Hynes Convention Center
The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation National Science Foundation Northeastern University

Thank you to our sponsor:
Sovereign Bank