Tim Weihs, professor of materials science and engineering, will lead the new Materials Science in Extreme Environments University Research Alliance, a group of 18 major research institutions whose work will focus on understanding and controlling how materials behave and chemistries evolve in the extreme conditions associated with weapons of mass destruction. The effort, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, will advance the types of materials that are capable of eliminating stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons while limiting the collateral damage of such defensive actions.

Such cooperative efforts enable researchers from across the nation to collaborate more effectively, to deliver results faster, and “to train, mentor, and inspire a new generation of students, many of whom will go on to work at federal laboratories and agencies,” Weihs says. The University Research Alliance will be a center within the Whiting School’s Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute.