UNLV aids military research

Monday, Dec. 12, 2005 | 8:22 a.m.

UNLV researchers are helping the Army be all it can be.

The Center for Materials and Structures, one of three research centers approved by the Board of Regents last week, is researching how to improve everything from guided missiles to military vehicles by strengthening them to make them safer and to protect the electronics inside.

It's a collaborative effort that brings together researchers from the university's mechanical, electrical and civil engineering departments as well as those in physics and chemistry, said Brendan O'Toole, the center's director.

By formally organizing as a center, O'Toole believes, the researchers will be able to leverage their current resources to pursue more grant money and additional federal partnerships with entitites such as the Defense Department, Energy Department, Army Research Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

The center is expected to bring in $3.2 million in grants this year, covering all of its expenses except professors' salaries.

UNLV's EMITION center -- the Energy-Material Interaction Testing Institute of Nevada -- and the Center for Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, similarly bring together a wide range of scientists and students from the university to work on research projects.

The nearly 60 such centers at the university specializing in research or community outreach are part of UNLV's strategy to become a top-level research institution, said Paul Ferguson, vice president for research and graduate studies.

Research centers bring the university added prestige by developing expertise in specific areas, Ferguson said. They also attract other scientists to UNLV and help develop technology that can be patented and marketed commercially, diversifying Nevada's economy.

The EMITION center, for instance, is looking at how pulsed power -- the ability to direct a mass of energy to a specific location over one-billionth of a second -- might help with everything from reducing air pollution to killing cancer cells. The sensors developed for use in the center's pulse power machines are being patented for possible use in the electronic and medical industry, center director Robert Schill said.

"As a unit, we're hoping that we will be able to bring more people and resources under a single umbrella with many branches and shoots to help other areas," said Schill, an electrical and computer engineering professor.

The atmospheric center is working with researchers and UNR and the Desert Research Institute to examine changes in climate using computer simulations to study lightning and cloud dynamics, said director Dieudonne Phanord. An applied mathematics professor and associate provost, Phanord is working on setting up a network of lightning sensors that will collect climate data and help power companies better pinpoint lightning damage.

The $30,000 sensor on top of UNLV's classroom building complex can track lightning 6,000 miles away, Phanord said. With a sensor already in Africa, he hopes to work with other universities to place sensors in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Alabama and Connecticut to create an international network that would coordinate with the Zeus Network already in place in Athens and throughout Europe.

The UNLV sensor and the massive computers needed to simulate climate activity were paid for with statewide NASA EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) money and donations from the Sun Corp. EPSCoR money was also instrumental in getting the Materials and Structures center and the EMITION center off the ground.

The Materials and Structures lab has two powerful air guns to simulate what damage a missile impact might do to an army vehicle, and a special machine that can test how alloys endure under extreme heats.

The latter research is needed to develop containers that can withstand the heat necessary for power plants to recycle nuclear fuel, O'Toole said. In the past, the center also has studied containers being considered for nuclear storage at Yucca Mountain.

The center also is looking at developing new types of foam that can better absorb energy for military use and that could be used for insulation. And it is examining a new tooling system that would allow soldiers in the field to quickly make a replacement part for, say, a damaged helicopter, O'Toole said.

The system uses a glass, sand-like substance that when mixed with water and a special binder, mirrors wet sand, O'Toole said. By using a vaccum to suck out the water, researchers can quickly make a mold of any tool or part needed to make a repair.

While it's much more efficient than having to machine a metal part by hand, researchers are still working on how to make the material stronger, O'Toole said.

Christina Littlefield may be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@ lasvegassun.com.