What is an IUCRC ?

CASERM is a multi-university, industry-sponsored research center established in August 2018. It forms part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) Program and is supported by NSF’s Directorate for Geosciences.

The IUCRC program is an established and proven model for private sector companies and government agencies to partner with universities. IUCRC centers are supported through membership fees from the members, grant money from NSF, and commitments of participating universities. To industry, government, and other organizations with research needs, the NSF IUCRC program provides the means to leverage research and development (R&D) investments with multi-university centers renowned for innovative research capabilities.

The IUCRC program’s cooperative model enables the creation of an industry-relevant, pre-competitive research portfolio, via the formation of multi-member, sustained partnerships between industry, academe, and government. NSF supports the development and evolution of IUCRCs by providing a financial and procedural framework for membership and operations, in addition to best practices learned over decades of fostering public/private partnerships that provide significant value to the nation, industry, university faculty and students.

IUCRCs focus on the development of the next generation workforce that is global in nature and has perspective on socio-economic issues that transcends cultural boundaries. There are more than 2000 students engaged at IUCRCs on a yearly basis. Each year about 1000 students graduate through these IUCRC sites and approximately 30% of these students are hired by the sponsoring member companies. These numbers demonstrate the strong role that IUCRCs plays in building the nation’s workforce.