Dayton, OH - Wright State University is creating a Center for Manufacturing Sciences (CMS), a new environment where students and seasoned manufacturers can work and learn together. The center will focus on knowledge-based manufacturing and best practices.
Dr. Larry R. Dosser, founder of Mound Laser & Photonics Center Inc., was named as the Senior Fellow for Technology Advancement at CMS. Dosser said the US manufacturing base is critical for national security and to grow national wealth. "We need to continually evolve our manufacturing processes to stay current," he said. "We need to invite more young and talented people into manufacturing and share with them the opportunity to be part of the emerging manufacturing renaissance that will see US manufacturing lead the world into and through the 21st century."
From 1980 to 1995, Dosser worked at Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, OH, where he used laser technology to study various aspects of energetic materials. In 1995, he started Mound Laser, which uses lasers to fashion miniature devices for the defense and medical device industries. The company collaborates with a Wright State faculty member to help speed research to commercialization.
The Wright State center plans to offer education and training in everything from bioengineering to laser micromachining.
"Students could walk in and say they wanted training in laser micromachining technology," Dosser said. "We would provide a simulation of a manufacturing cell in laser micromachining. The knowledge level gained from the simulations gets you 80 to 90 percent of the way. Now you only have to put your hands on the hardware."
"I think the next advances are going to be made in the micro world," Dosser said. "For example, we are micromachining devices that are being used at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. We can bring in both neuroscience experts and laser manufacturing experts to drive these applications."
He said the center will be rich with resources, drawing on those from Mound Laser, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the US Navy and others. Dosser expects to begin seeing students in January. He plans for the center to be self-sustaining through research grants and contracts within three years.
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