Benefits of membership in the Center's Cooperative Research Program are listed below. Each voting Center Member is entitled to one voting representative on the Center's IAB. This entitlement provides the Center Members a formal opportunity to suggest new projects for the cooperative research program, select the projects to be funded, and to participate in determining the research direction of the Center.
A voting Center Member may allocate its funding to a specific research area(s).
A Center Member may send up to five representatives to the semiannual IAB and Technical Review meetings. The presentations by the Center faculty and a poster session provide opportunities for representatives to discuss those projects of particular interest with the involved faculty members and graduate students.
A Center Member receives at least one CD copy of the semiannual formal Research Reports. At least one CD copy of the oral technical presentations is provided to each member.
A Center Member receives an option for a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to inventions made on the Center's cooperative program if they share patent costs or if one or more of the Universities pays for the cost of a patent.
A Center Member through participation in Center Technical Review meetings and progress reports can keep abreast of a wide range of ceramic and materials research results and opportunities. The pooling of membership fees provides base funding for the research of approximately 25-35 graduate students. This provides a cost-effective mechanism for Member Companies to gain detailed access to a broad base research program for a small percentage of the cost of performing research in-house. Funding from NSF, New Mexico and New Jersey and support from Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories including participation of National Laboratory researchers in Center research projects provide additional leveraging.
A Center Member can choose to send a visiting scientist to the Center. If this person works on one of the research projects in the cooperative program, there is no extra fee required from the Member Company. An extra fee is required in accordance with each university's access to facilities policy if the visiting scientist works on a research project other than a project in the cooperative program.
A Center Member has access to the Center and its faculty as a resource for technical questions, occasional technical services, and conducting individual research projects under separate contract.
A Center Member gains exposure to graduate students and undergraduate students at the semiannual review meetings to assist in the recruitment of new staff members.