NSF-funded center to drive development of US natural rubber industry

NSF-funded center to drive development of US natural rubber industry

Ohio State leads partnership receiving $26 million in initial funding

The Ohio State University has been awarded $26 million in federal funding to jumpstart natural rubber production in the United States and enhance workforce development to fuel the new domestic industry.

The U.S. National Science Foundationannounced fundingtoday (Aug. 21, 2024) for the creation of the "Transformation of American Rubber through Domestic Innovation for Supply Security" (TARDISS) Engineering Research Center (ERC). The first round of funding will last for five years, with the ability to renew for another $26 million for five additional years.

"Our ongoing priority is to support the people, communities and businesses in Ohio by leveraging the expertise and research of our outstanding faculty and students through these partnerships," Ohio State President Walter "Ted" Carter Jr. said. "Ohio State is proud to lead this work advancing domestic natural rubber production in our state and region."

TARDISS, composed of academic partners and supported by industry stakeholders, will lead fundamental research supporting the creation of a "Silicon Valley of Domestic Natural Rubber Production," said Judit Puskas, professor of food, agricultural and biological engineering(FABE) and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State. As principal investigator on the grant, Puskas will lead the center along with its director, Ajay Shah, also a professor in FABE. Katrina Cornish, Ohio State professor emeritus and current director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and Arid Land Agricultural Research Center, will serve as an external adviser to TARDISS.

The ERC will harness the power of nature, creating bridges between engineering, biology and agriculture, to revolutionize alternative natural rubber production from domestic crops: guayule, the TK "rubber" dandelionand mountain gum. The initiative will also help create jobs, train a new and diverse engineering and agricultural workforce, and ease supply chain issues by building a domestic rubber supply.

"Ohio State is prepared to make the most of this opportunity to get domestic natural rubber production up and running," said Puskas, a longtime scholar in rubber technology who joined the Ohio State faculty in 2019. "This significant federal support coupled with the large network of expertise under the ERC umbrella positions us well to meet the critical need for a biotechnology-driven solution that boosts domestic manufacturing and reduces reliance on imports."

Disease and high demand threaten the tropical rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, the world's primary natural rubber source. In 2019, 10% of the natural rubber supply was lost to disease - and the risk for transmission of South American leaf blight to Southeast Asia has increased with the expansion of direct airline travel between Brazil and China. Collapse of the global supply would disrupt entire economies around the world, researchers predict.

As lead of the multi-institutional engineering research center, Ohio State will partner with the California Institute of Technology; North Carolina State University; Texas Tech University; the University of California, Merced; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Case Western Reserve University as well as industry, educational and technical organizations including The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society and the Waters Corp.

TARDISS will be headquartered at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Wooster campus.

"Ohio State is prepared and eager to lead this critical initiative. This center will integrate engineering with biology and other science disciplines to understand how plants naturally produce rubber, leading to breakthrough discoveries," said Dean of the College of Engineering Ayanna Howard. "Our innovation ecosystem brings together over 30 industry partners, researchers, students, national labs and the community it serves, and features novel programs to encourage innovation."

"As a land-grant university, we are dedicated to integrating research, education and extension to improve industry, the environment and the quality of people's lives - and we work to ensure that groundbreaking scientific discoveries are brought out of the laboratory and into the hands of those who can put them to work," said Cathann A. Kress, Ohio State vice president for agricultural administration and dean of CFAES. "This investment from NSF celebrates the university's commitment to research that makes an impact."

Industry partners are critical to the success of TARDISS ERC both in terms of supporting technology translation and workforce development efforts.

"There is a tremendous amount of economic potential in U.S. bioengineering that will be unlocked by the TARDISS Engineering Research Center," said Fraser McLeod, vice president, QA/QC Waters Division and Wyatt Technology general manager. "As a leading manufacturer of analytical instruments used in macromolecular characterization, Waters is pleased to support this critical research and the light scattering technologies that will enable the cultivation and extraction of domestically produced natural rubber for the benefit of American industry."

"The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society represents hundreds of companies that depend on a stable supply of natural rubber to make critical products for the U.S. economy. This new Engineering Research Center will help shift the production of natural rubber from overseas to domestic sources, thereby improving supply chains for our members and creating many American jobs and startups in our industry," said Lakisha Barclay, executive director and CEO, Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society.

Since its founding in 1985, NSF's ERC program has funded 79 centers (not including those announced today) that receive support for up to 10 years. The centers build partnerships with educational institutions, government agencies and industry stakeholders to support innovation and inclusion in established and emerging engineering research.

"NSF's Engineering Research Centers ask big questions in order to catalyze solutions with far-reaching impacts," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "NSF Engineering Research Centers are powerhouses of discovery and innovation, bringing America's great engineering minds to bear on our toughest challenges. By collaborating with industry and training the workforce of the future, ERCs create an innovation ecosystem that can accelerate engineering innovations, producing tremendous economic and societal benefits for the nation."

This is the second NSF-funded ERC to be established at Ohio State in the last two years. The Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing, Moving from Evolution to Revolution (HAMMER) ERCwas awarded funding in 2022. With today's announcement, Ohio State joins only a small number of universities to have led simultaneous awards.

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