Troy University officials cut the ribbon on the newly finished Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences on Saturday. 

Designed by Seay, Seay & Litchfield, the Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences is the first building in the history of Troy University to be solely dedicated to research.

Founded in 2018 with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, CMMS is a fully-integrated, multi-disciplinary research facility focusing on research into polymers and polymer recycling. Since 2018, the NIST has awarded CMMS three grants totaling $9.4 million to help fund lab equipment, research projects, research stipends and faculty. 

“This building reflects the future. I’m proud that Troy University stands on the threshold of this next level of growth,” said Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. “The next level of maturation occurs when you are fully engaged in the forming of solutions to major problems, and that’s what this building represents. This building is not just a building—it is the future.”

Located on the Academic Quad in between Adams Administration and Patterson, at the former site of McCartha Hall, construction began in late 2022. The two-story building features a medical polymer processing lab, thermal analysis lab, chromatography analytical lab, mechanical testing lab, three polymer processing labs, pilot plant lab, three faculty research labs, spectroscopy lab, polymer chemistry lab, thermal lab, microscopy lab and an open faculty research lab.

“The construction of this building right here on our Academic Quad demonstrates the depth of our commitment as a University to research,” said Dr. Kerry Palmer, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. “This institution, since its founding, has been teaching students and providing service to this region and around the world, and now we’re ready to move to the next level as a research institution. This building serves as a reminder that great universities are always in the pursuit of knowledge.”

Dr. Govind Menon, Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and Director of the School of Science and Technology (SST), said the idea for the Center came about nearly a decade ago when he broached the idea of a possible entry into plastics research and polymer science.

“We are very excited, and we hope that this is only the beginning. It is absolutely necessary for us to connect with industry. It is one thing to reside entirely within academia and do our own work, but it is another thing entirely to create very applicable technologies,” he said. “Looking ahead, we will look upon today as the birth of TROY’s academic renaissance. This will change the profile of research we do at Troy University.”

The Center is housed under the School of Science and Technology, and both are under the umbrella of CAS. SST was founded in 2012 and is comprised of Biological and Environmental Sciences; Chemistry and Physics; Mathematics; Geospatial Informatics; Computer Science; and the Center for Relativity and Cosmology. The mission of SST is to bring agency to the teaching of science, research in pure and applied sciences and in its application to industry.

In addition to research, the Center will also help prepare the next generation of the workforce for the industry—students trained at the Center will be engaged in real-life, real-time industry projects.

For more information about CMMS, visit here.