The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) has been granted $2.25 million to create a research center by the U.S. Army through a program to diversify its research base through partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs).
The five-year grant will establish EXtreme EnErgy Density (EXEED), a research center focused on next generation energetic materials.
The research group and students will use a new UIC high-pressure laboratory and organic synthesis, spectroscopy and synchrotron facilities at UIC, Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
“We are excited to launch this bold new basic science effort to discover new materials with unprecedented amounts of stored energy and other useful properties. We are also grateful to the U.S. Army Research Office for its recognition of UIC’s potential in training students from underrepresented groups in this field,” said EXEED Director Russell J. Hemley, LAS Chair in the Natural Sciences and professor of physics and chemistry.