Newswise — The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) and ASM International jointly released a new report that draws on the perspectives of scientists, engineers, and data experts with membership in 20 different professional societies to define key data management issues that must be addressed to optimize innovation in materials science and engineering (MSE). The report was generated from the findings of a workshop convened by TMS and ASM International during the Materials Science & Technology 2012 Conference, held in October 2012. The full report can be downloaded at materialsinnovation.tms.org/2012IntersocietyScopingSession/.
The goal of the event and resulting report was to identify data sharing challenges associated with building the "materials innovation infrastructure," which is at the core of the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), announced by President Barack Obama in June 2011. Creating the infrastructure would provide U.S. organizations access to critical advanced computational and experimental tools, as well as enable sharing and management of digital data across platforms and institutions. The existence of this capability would vastly accelerate the pace of discovering, manufacturing, and deploying advanced materials, while also significantly reducing costs.
"This report represents an important step forward in the conversation surrounding interdisciplinary collaboration, as it identifies the primary categories of data associated with MSE—particularly from the structural materials perspective," said George Spanos, TMS Technical Director. "It also explores the degree to which these categories of data are being actively shared across fields, and considers some key data management issues."
"The workshop report is a useful tool for identifying priority areas for materials data projects that will enable more widespread and innovative use of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) methods," said Scott Henry, ASM International Senior Manager of Content Development. "In addition, many of the participants expressed enthusiasm about undertaking efforts to address materials data issues within their disciplines."
The report is intended to catalyze broader efforts across MSE disciplines by highlighting the benefits and challenges associated with the MGI's call for increased data sharing, standardization, and collaboration. Spanos noted that TMS specifically plans to build and expand on the results of the report as it progresses toward its strategic goal of "being a home for and advocate of materials and manufacturing innovation."
"In addition to developing resources and venues for convening the MSE community on these topics, TMS will use the report's insights to inform development of existing resources for data sharing and collaboration," Spanos said. Specific TMS projects include continued enhancement of the Cyberinfrastructure Portal (materialsinnovations.tms.org/cyberPortal.aspx) and 3D Materials Atlas (materialsinnovation.tms.org/materialsatlas).
ASM International will use the workshop results as input to "ecosystem" projects within its recently launched Computational Materials Data Network (www.cmdnetwork.org). According to Henry, the CMD Network "supports advanced computational materials science and engineering by facilitating the completion of materials-related initiatives through interactive data sharing and collaboration."
Bolstering these efforts, said Spanos, is the continued collaboration of professional societies, including TMS and ASM, in convening the field and developing resources to overcome barriers to collaboration. "A core tenet of the MGI is that cross-organizational and interdisciplinary collaboration will yield better results than isolated efforts," he said. "The TMS/ASM collaboration is an excellent example of that. It allows these two organizations to utilize their respective strengths in a coordinated manner to make faster progress in achieving the ambitious goals outlined by the MGI."
ABOUT TMSTMS is a member-driven international professional society dedicated to fostering the exchange of learning and ideas across the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production, to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its 11,000 professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators, and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents.
ABOUT ASM INTERNATIONALASM International, the Materials Information Society, serves materials professionals, nontechnical personnel and managers by providing high-quality materials information, education and training, networking opportunities, and professional development resources in cost-effective and user-friendly formats. The society has 35,000 members and 90+ professional chapters worldwide. Founded in 1913, ASM has been meeting materials data sharing needs for 100 years.
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