Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) launched a new center that aims to improve data-gathering and computer-modeling techniques that will lead to the development of better equipment and materials used by the automotive and aerospace industries. Known as the Center for Materials Processing Data (CMPD), its members generate and manage time- and temperature-dependent material property data – formally called transient data – used in process modeling and simulation. Precise data is critical in the ongoing development of high-performance materials, but there are no such information repositories widely shared by industry.

CMPD partner institutions include the University of Connecticut, the University of Buffalo and ASM International. Each partner university plays a specific role in the new center. The University of Buffalo contributes its materials informatics expertise, WPI brings its process-modeling experience and the University of Connecticut offers a state-of-the-art materials characterization center. ASM is responsible for defining and disseminating the resulting data products to industry.

CMPD is the fourth center under WPI’s Metal Processing Institute, which is the largest university-industry alliance in North America.