Interaction with Ionizing Radiation with Matter, University Research Alliance (IIRM–URA)

The Pennsylvania State University seeks to establish the Interaction with Ionizing Radiation with Matter, University Research Alliance (IIRM–URA). The team will work in an open and collaboration-based framework to foster a matrixed environment whereby leading research scientists and engineers work together to create: advances in understanding material-radiation interaction, advances in devices and device integration, and enhanced nuclear survivability and response. Inherent in the IIRM-URA activities is bringing a new perspective to DTRA activities and in developing a pipeline of future researchers, engineers, scientists, and professionals. The primary goals of the IIRM-URA will be to conduct fundamental basic and applied research in focused research areas (RA) of interest to DTRA in order to identify, adopt, and develop revolutionary scientific breakthroughs that will reduce, eliminate or counter nuclear and radiological threats of WMD. The underlying theme for the IIRM-URA is to identify relevant physics, device and system designs, and modelling approaches to understand, identify, and control ionizing interactions of radiation with materials due to the synergistic overlap. The IIRM-URA proposes innovative frontier-guiding research programs to address the three primary research areas: RA1 (Materials), RA2 (Devices and Integration), and RA3 (Survival and Response), as well as cross-cutting modeling and simulation activities.