FeMET initiative accepting grant proposals

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) Foundation’s “Ferrous Metallurgy Education Today,” or FeMET Initiative, which is aimed at attracting top scholastic talent to the North American steel industry, is now accepting design and curriculum development grant proposals for the 2009–2010 school year.

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 up to $50,000.

The theme for 2009 is two-part; first “The Description of the State of the Art Modeling Techniques,” and second “The Detailing of how they can be Applied to Steel Processes and the Benefits that could be Derived.” Teams must quantify the benefits arising out of the proposed technique and study. The work should cover both parts of the theme. Teams may propose to perform one or more comparative studies, as long as they remain within the budget parameters in the proposal instructions.

Completed proposals must be sub­mitted electronically, via PDF, to manufacturingt@steel.org by May 31, 2009. Awardees will be announced July 31, 2009. Questions about the design grant program or the proposal process should be directed to BV Lakshminarayana at blakshmi@steel.org or 202-452-7143.

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 utilize students to assist in the editing and updating of course materials, 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 $5,000 each.

The maximum allowable time for a curriculum development grant is five years, beginning in the fall of 2009. The number of awards granted depends on fund availability; each grant will be $5,000 maximum per year for five years, totaling $25,000.

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 fulfill the program objective.

Completed proposals must be submitted electronically, via PDF, to lwharrey@aist.org by June 30, 2009. Awardees will be announced July 31, 2009. Questions about the curriculum development program and/or proposal process should be directed to Lori Wharrey at lwharrey@aist.org or 724-814-3044.