Unclassified

Interaction of Ionizing Radiation

with Matter University Research

Alliance (IIRM-URA) Overview

Professor Douglas E. Wolfe and Mrs. Meghan F. Hayes

The Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State University

August 24, 2020 and August 27, 2020

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Outline

• Mission

• Goals

• IIRM Team Organization

• Team Facilities

• Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

• Technology Transition

• Management and Alliance Structure

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IIRM URA Mission

To conduct fundamental research in focused

research areas (RA) that are of interest to DTRA

and the warfighter in order to identify and develop

revolutionary scientific breakthroughs that will

reduce, eliminate, and/or counter nuclear and

radiological threats of weapons of mass destruction

(WMD).

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Using robots to deploy sensors for identifying threats.

Photo by Terri Cronk

Stryker Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle. Photo by

U.S. Army

Standoff Radiation Detection enables nuclear battlefield situational awareness.

From Dr. Joanna Ingraham brief

Training on how to enter areas where potential

threats are present. Screenshot via Defense TV

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IIRM URA Goals

• Investigate interaction of ionizing radiation with matter in order to identify advanced

material systems, devices and integration, and survivability response to detect/defeat

WMD

• Assist in training the next generation workforce and student pipeline against WMD

• Advance fundamental knowledge of materials interactions with ionizing radiation

• Promote interdisciplinary research and solutions in support of WMD threat reduction

• Perform transformative research focused on understanding interactions of ionizing

radiation with cross cutting modeling and simulations

• Facilitate implementation and research transition that enables new capabilities for the

warfighter to maintain a competitive advantage

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IIRM URA Organization

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Areg Danagoulian Yoel Fink

Ju LiDick Lanza

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University of Michigan

Zhong He

David Wehe

Michael Flynn Fei Gao

Igor Jovanovic Clayton Scott

Mark Hammig

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University of Florida

Stephen Pearton

Mike Tonks

Kyle Hartig Juan Nino

Nancy RuzyckiFan Ren

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Brigham Young University

Mike Wirthlin Jeff Goeders

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FISK University

Arnold Burger Rastgo Hawrami

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Northwestern University

Mercouri Kanatzidis Bruce Wessels

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University of California – Berkeley

Sayeef Salahuddin

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University of North Carolina

Jinsong Huang

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University of Notre Dame

Suman Datta

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United States Military Academy

Peter Chapman

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Air Force Institute of Technology

James Bevins Darren Holland James Petrosky

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Naval Postgraduate School

Andy Nieto

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H3D

Weiyi Wang

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Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.

Kanai ShahJarek Glodo Mike Squillante

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University of Surrey

Paul Sellin

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Naval Research Laboratory

Ani Khachatrian

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Edith Bourret Federico Moretti

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Michael Foxe

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Sandia National Laboratory

Dolores Black Jeff Black

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Penn State University

Douglas Wolfe

Saptarshi Das Marek Flaska Aman Haque

Azaree Lintereur Susan ZingaroMeghan Hayes

Kris Eden

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UNC MOOSE Predictive

Microstructure Evolution and

Defect Model

Team Facilities and Capabilities

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West Point Radiation Detection Lab and High Energy

Laser Lab

H3D Vehicle-Mounted Radiation

Detection/Imaging Modules

BYU Single-Effect Radiation Testing of

Complex Devices

RMD Bridgman Furnaces for

Single Crystal Growth

MIT AI Driven Crystal Synthesis and 5

MW Reactor

Berkeley Marvell Nanolab

Notre Dame Nanofabrication Facility UM High Resolution Electron Microscopy and

Tunable Solid-State Laser

UF Jordan 100 kW Training

Reactor

PSU 1000 MW Breazeale Nuclear Reactor Core, Radiation Testing

Set Up, Bridgeman Furnaces, and RSEC Hot Cell Lab

UNIS X-ray sensitivity and light output linearity

characterization set-up

LBNL Scintillation Characterization Northwestern Integrated Molecular Structure

Education and Research Center

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Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration

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1259 joint publications and patents

186 joint publications with national laboratories

We know how to collaborate!

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IIRM URA Structure

• Three Research Areas (RA)

• Four Focus Areas (FA) within each RA

• Cross-Cutting Research Initiative (CCRI) across each RA-FA

• Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

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IIRM Research and Focus Areas

• RA1 – Materials

• FA1 – Radiation Sensing

• FA2 – Optical

• FA3 – Functional Physical

• FA4 – Functional Computational and Electronic

• RA2 – Devices and Integration

• FA1 – Photodetectors

• FA2 – Non-Volatile Memory

• FA3 – Detector Electronics and Signal Processing

• FA4 – Non-Traditional Computational Devices

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IIRM Research and Focus Areas

• RA3 – Survival and Response

• FA1 – Survivability Testing

• FA2 – Collection and Analysis

• FA3 – RN Contamination

• FA4 – Shielding

• Cross-Cutting Research Initiatives (CCRI)

• Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

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Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

• Young Investigator Award (YIA) Program

• Provides high-impact funding for promising researchers and early-career faculty

• Open to internal and external proposers at the assistant professor rank who have

held their graduate degree for no more than 10 years

• Proposals sought on an annual basis

• Seed Program

• Supports development of novel, high-risk concepts for potential full project topics

• Sought on an annual basis

• Staff Rotations

• DTRA and government employees

• National Laboratories

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Workforce Development

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United States Military Academy at West Point

• Advanced Individual Academic Development (AIAD) summer programs

• Independent research activities (1-3 credits/semester)

• Nuclear engineering capstone projects

Cadets:

• Research as a leader development tool

• Knowledge / experience in counter-WMD

• Career field transition opportunities

• Potential for graduate school

Faculty:

• Opportunity to continue scholarship from graduate school

• Remain connected in the counter-WMD

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Workforce Development

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Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)

• Engage active duty, civilian, Army and Air Force students with

DTRA-relevant research and counter-WMD education

• AFIT’s Center for Nuclear Expertise and Advancing Technologies

(NEAT) will engage in WFD through:

• Pursuing summer internships, including USMA & USAFA cadets

• Developing postdoc & research faculty

• Enabling and guiding transition of military and civilian students,

postdocs, and faculty to DTRA or related DoD careers

• Developing multi-disciplinary research to engage

faculty/students

• Student projects at all levels, including Alliance Sandbox activities,

will be used to develop the next generation workforce to have the skill

sets needed for the counter WMD-mission

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Student Pipeline: Drones for DoD Education

The student sandbox will be an innovative and comprehensive program that will address

training and pipeline development for students at all educational levels.

Drone competitions will be designed

to engage students in research areas

pertaining to the interactions of

ionizing radiation with matter.

• Drone flight and piloting

• Controls theory

• Electronic circuits

• RF communication

• Machine learning

• Sensor technology and

packaging

Teaching Modules

Mini Challenges:

• Basic controls and response

• AI guidance

• Sensor packaging

• Image analysis

Grand Challenges:

• 41Ar plume tracking at UFTR

• Object tracking

• Optimized search, Swarm

Student Competitions

and Badges

• Student matriculation and

pipeline

• Middle school

• High school

• Undergraduate

• Connection to student orgs and

ROTC programs

• Department of Education and

NSF programs (e.g. teaching the

teachers)

Outreach

Sandbox is composed of

three DTRA mission-

focused themes:

• Prevent

• Contain

• Respond

Impact

Student pipeline

and matriculation

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Matriculation

Comprehensive

Approach

Grand Challenges

and Shepherd

Middle School High School Community College Undergraduate Graduate

Curriculum +

Skills Contest

Pipeline Skills

Approach

Advanced Skills

Development

Focus: Flight Skills,

FAA regulations,

Engineering Skills,

Drone Careers,

Applications

Partners: SkillsUSA,

Pitsco, UEF(TBD), State

Level CTE programs

Focus: FAA

Certifications,

Internships, Co-Ops,

Drone Careers,

Applications.

Partners: SkillsUSA,

State Level CTE

programs, Industry

Focus: FAA Certification,

Technical & Engineering

Skills, Drone Careers,

Applications, Sea-Air-Land

Partners: State Level CTE

programs

SkillsUSA, Private

Partnerships

Focus: DoD mission

objectives, 41Ar plume

tracking Contest, AI,

Internships, Networking,

Courses, Badges

Partners: DoD Labs,

University REUs,

Industry, NSF

Focus: DoD mission

objectives, Advanced Skills

Test, Sensor Development, AI,

Entrepreneurship, Impossible

Mission Drone Contest

Partners: DoD Labs,

University REUs, Industry,

NSF

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Key Aspects of Matriculation Plan

• Leverages existing federal grants (ED, NSF) and programs (Sea-Air-Land) and builds in

new programs using existing CTE Frameworks for middle/high school and community

college for SkillsUSA competitions

• Leverages existing partnerships with HBCUs, MSIs, ROTC, rural students

• Leverages partnerships with consortium partners, industry, local federal facilities,

private foundations to expand sandbox capabilities.

• Addresses the workforce pipeline for students at all levels:

• Technicians, engineers, development leads, pilots

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Potential Impact

• We will engage high-school and undergraduate students (with a focus on under-represented groups) to

exciting national security applications of science and engineering concepts.

• We will develop learning modules through reverse engineering of successful mini- and grand-challenge

student competitions/activities and expertise within our partner institutions.

• We will deploy these modules at several levels (UG and HS) and identify COTS components to be

included in a low-cost kits for classroom style active learning.

• Collaboration with industry and government:

• Strong connections with government agencies and companies

• Expert guidance and mentorship on AI/ML, sensors, and autonomous vehicles/drones for national security.

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Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

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Why: Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are

the fields where jobs are today and where job growth

will be in the future. Emerging mission requirements

pose great STEM workforce challenges, and therefore

underpin the Department of Defense’s (DoD) ability to

provide national security.

What: The Sea Air and Land Challenge, or SeAL Challenge,

gives teams of students the opportunity to learn about

the engineering process through the design of a robotics

system relevant to the DoD.

How: The web-delivered low-cost one semester length

program, offered in class or out of school,

provides engineering mentors and a

choice of missions to

student teams.

Build a robot that can deliver

supplies to people trapped in a city

building after an earthquake.

Develop a submersible to

search a sunken UUV for

clues to the accident.

Build a payload for a quadcopter that can determine if radioactive elements are present.

SEA

CH

AL

LE

NG

E M

ISS

ION

S

AIR

LAND

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Workforce Development and Student Pipeline

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An explosion has occurred in a downtown

metropolitan area. Is it safe for first

responders to enter the area?

Mission I:

The aircraft must sense if the

explosion contained radioactive

elements and report back to the

operator.

Mission II:

Develop a payload and be able to

drop markers on the “radiation

danger zones”.

The Air Challenge Mission:

2020 (Scheduled)

572 Students

67 Schools

2019

553 Students

48 Schools

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Technology Transition

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• Major challenge, and metric for DOD basic research

• Key strength of IIRM URA team members

• Alignment with DoD acquisition policies and with the unique challenges and

processes of the organization

• Collaborative, strategic approach with DTRA

• Key: identify projects and technology early to assess development approaches

• Penn State “Great White” Special Applications Module (SAM)

program.

• Strong team collaborations, beginning with initial 6.1 funding,

progressed through prototyping, demonstrations, and 50 system

deliveries to date using LRIP funding on the Huron Lynx program.

• Technology is currently transitioning to industry for over 3000 units of

production.

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Technical Management Group

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CCRI: Michael Tonks Workforce Development

Research Management Group

TPOC: Jacob Calkins

RA3

RAL:Stephen Pearton

(UF)

TPOC: Calvin Shipbaugh

RA2

IIRM PM: Doug Wolfe (PSU) IIRM CAM: Michael Robinson

TPOC: David Petersen

IIRM PC: Meghan Hayes

RA1

Cro

ss C

utt

ing

Re

sear

ch In

itia

tive

s RAL:Ju Li

(MIT)

RAL:Mark Hammig

(UM)

Management

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Government Fiscal Year 20 21 22

Quarter 4 1 2 3 4 1

Academic Semesters Summer/Fall '20 Spring '21 Summer/Fall '21

Administrative

TMG Meetings

BPP White Paper Call

BPP WP Selection

Draft BPP

BPP Approval

Research

RA Meetings (Monthly)

Annual Technical Review

Workforce Development

WFD Meetings

SEAL '21

SEAL '22 Development

Initial Project Plan (IPP) Schedule

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Year in the Life of IIRM

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20 Research

Institutions

3 Research Areas

CCRI

WFD/Student pipeline

1 United and Collaborative Alliance

Conclusion