Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology Invests up to $71 Million in New Manufacturing, Infrastructure Research and Development

Technology Innovation Program funding focuses on advanced materials and infrastructure monitoring and repair

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced up to $71 million in funding through its Technology Innovation Program (TIP) for 20 new cost-sharing projects that will support innovative, high-risk research in new technologies that address critical national needs. The new projects will include developing unmanned, hovering aircraft for bridge inspections, a high-speed sorting system for recycling aerospace metals, and nanomaterials for advanced batteries, among other projects. The awards will be matched by other funding sources to achieve nearly $150 million in new research over the next two to five years.

"President Obama is leading an effort to drive economic growth and solve national problems by deploying a 21st Century economy," U.S. Commerce Deputy Secretary Dennis Hightower said. "These new projects will develop new technology and material that will play a critical role in modernizing infrastructure and developing the manufacturing sector across the country."

TIP is a merit-based, competitive program that provides cost-shared funding for research projects by single small- or medium-sized businesses or by joint ventures that also may include institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and national laboratories.

The 20 projects announced today were selected from a TIP competition announced on March 26, 2009, seeking projects addressing two broad areas of national interest:

  • The practical application of advanced materials including nanomaterials, advanced alloys and composites in manufacturing
  • The monitoring or repair of major public infrastructure systems, including water systems, dams and levees, and bridges, roads and highways.


TIP focused on developing new materials based on nanotechnology, advanced composites and so-called "superalloys" or smart materials—and expanding the capacity to incorporate these materials into new products—because many experts consider accelerated development of these advanced materials critical to potential growth in U.S. manufacturing.

The goals for this part of the competition were detailed in the white paper, "Accelerating the Incorporation of Materials Advances into Manufacturing Processes".

TIP's second area of focus—civil infrastructure technology—built on TIP's 2008 solicitation for new sensor technologies to improve the monitoring of large-scale civil infrastructure, including bridges or pipelines. This year's competition emphasized technologies to detect structural damage in water resource systems like water and wastewater pipelines, dams, levees and waterway locks, as well as bridges and roadways, and added a second focus on new technologies for repair and retrofit of existing structures.

The goals for this part of the competition were detailed in the white paper "Advanced Sensing Technologies and Advanced Repair Materials for the Infrastructure: Water Systems, Dams, Levees, Bridges, Roads, and Highways".

Additional information on the Technology Innovation Program is available at link removed.

See the full list of 2009 TIP project awards and links to additional details for each below.

As a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.


Technology Innovation Program 2009 R&D Awards:Advanced Materials in Manufacturing

Production of Low-Cost, High-Quality Metallic and Semiconducting Single Wall Carbon Nanotube Inks

Brewer Science, Inc. (Rolla, Mo.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $6.527 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $13.910 M


Develop technologies for the cost-effective production of high-purity, high-quality, metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotube "inks" to enable commercial production of a wide variety of high-performing electronic devices for energy, flexible electronic and sensor applications. Read more...

Functionalized Nano Graphene for Next-Generation Nano-Enhanced Products

Angstron Materials, LLC (Dayton, Ohio)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.494 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $2.988 M


Develop processes for mass-producing chemically modified ("functionalized") nano graphene for next-generation products, particularly for the energy industries. Read more...

Transformational Casting Technology for Fabrication of Ultra-High Performance Lightweight Aluminum and Magnesium Nanocomposites

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System (Madison, Wis.) (Lead)
Eck Industries, Inc. (Manitowoc, Wis.)
Nanostructured & Amorphous Materials, Inc. (Houston, Texas)
Oshkosh Corporation (Oshkosh, Wis.)

  • Project duration: 5 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $4.863 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $10.092 M


Develop a novel casting technology, based on ultrasonic cavitation dispersion of nanoparticles in metal melts, for large-scale production of aluminum and magnesium matrix nanocomposites. Read more...

High-Speed, Continuous Manufacturing of Nano-Doped Magnesium Diboride Superconductors for Next-Generation MRI Systems

Hyper Tech Research, Inc. (Columbus, Ohio)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $3 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $6.05 M


Develop a practical, industrial scale continuous manufacturing process for magnesium diboride superconducting wires and other wire products requiring a hollow metal tube around a powder-based core. Read more...

PRINT® Nanomanufacturing: Enabling Rationally Designed Nanoparticles for Next-Generation Therapeutics

Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (Durham, N.C.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $2.971 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $5.942 M


Scale up to practical commercial volumes a novel nanoparticle manufacturing process based on nanoscale molding to produce engineered nanoparticles of specific sizes, shapes and materials for therapeutic applications. Read more...

Silicon Nanowire Production for Advanced Lithium-Ion Batteries

Amprius, Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.)

  • Project duration: 2 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $3 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $6 M


Develop a unique, high-throughput, continuous manufacturing process for producing a novel, nanostructured silicon-based anode material for lithium batteries. Read more...

Integrated Multiscale Modeling for Development of Machinable Advanced Alloys and Corresponding Component Machining Processes

Third Wave Systems, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.564 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $3.170 M


Develop and demonstrate integrated multiscale physics-based predictive modeling for developing more machinable advanced alloys and the corresponding component machining processing data needed by manufacturers. Read more...

High Volume Production of Nanocomposite Electrode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

A123Systems, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $2.864 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $6 M


Develop a new composite nanomaterial for lithium-ion battery cathodes for significantly increased battery performance together with improved manufacturing techniques to lower overall costs. Read more...

Building U.S. Strategic Metals Competitiveness Through Integration of Advanced Sensor Technologies

wTe Corporation (Bedford, Mass.) (Lead)
National Recovery Technology, Inc. (Nashville, Tenn.)
Energy Research Company (Staten Island, N.Y.)

  • Project duration: 4 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $5.670 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $11.532 M


Develop and scale-up to commercial levels a suite of novel, optoelectronic inspection technologies to accurately identify and sort aerospace metals such as titanium and nickel/cobalt superalloys at ultra-high speeds so they can be recycled more cost effectively and also to enhance melting capacity for existing furnaces by measuring composition in-situ, in real time. Read more...

Homogeneous Three-Dimensional Pultruded Processing of PEEK, PEI, and PPS High Temperature Thermoplastic Composite Profiles

Ebert Composites Corporation (Chula Vista, Calif.)

  • Project duration: 2 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.866 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $4.018 M


Develop a state-of-the-art manufacturing process to automate, on a large scale, the production of three-dimensional fiber composites with high temperature thermoplastics. Read more...

High-Risk, Low-Cost Carbon Nanofiber Manufacturing Process Scale-Up

eSpin Technologies, Inc. (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $3 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $6.006 M


Develop a commercial-scale manufacturing process for producing self-supporting, non-woven fabrics of both natural and activated carbon nanofibers. Read more...

Development and Scale-Up of Nanocomposites with Sub-10nm Particles

Pixelligent Technologies, LLC (College Park, Md.) (Lead)
Brewer Science, Inc. (Rolla, Mo.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $4.089 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $8.178 M


Develop new processes and technologies for scaling up the production of high quality nanocomposites, by incorporating nanocrystals with precisely controlled size, shape, and surface chemistry into a polymer matrix for demanding and high-volume industrial applications. Read more...

Technology Innovation Program 2009 R&D Awards:Monitoring and Retrofit of Civil Infrastructure

Civil Infrastructure Inspection and Monitoring Using Unmanned Air Vehicles

The Droid Works, Inc. dba CyPhy Works (Framingham, Mass.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $2.453 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $4.996 M


Develop the technologies required to create small, hovering, Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) for use in the inspection and monitoring of large-scale civil infrastructure elements such as bridges and dams. Read more...

Automated Nondestructive Evaluation and Rehabilitation System (ANDERS) for Bridge Decks

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Piscataway, N.J.) (Lead)
Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pa.)
PD-LD, Inc. (Pennington, N.J.)
Mala GeoScience USA, Inc. (Charleston, S.C.)
Pennoni Associates Inc. (Philadelphia, Pa.)

  • Project duration: 5 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $8.810 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $17.923 M


Develop a mobile integrated system for nondestructive evaluation and repair of bridge decks, including human-operated and robotic systems that merge novel imaging and NDE techniques together with innovative intervention approaches to arrest deterioration processes. Read more...

Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing Technology For Civil Infrastructure Management

Optellios, Inc. (Newton, Pa.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.930 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $3.917 M


Develop a distributed fiber-optic sensing technology to enable real-time monitoring, identifying and locating disturbances and changes over long stretches of pipelines. Read more...

Robotic Rehabilitation of Aging Water Pipelines

Fibrwrap Construction, Inc. (Ontario, Calif.) (Lead)
Fyfe Company, LLC (San Diego, Calif.)
The Regents of University of California, (UCI) (Irvine, Calif.)

  • Project duration: 5 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $8.462 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $17.582 M


Develop a prototype robot to apply carbon fiber reinforcement inside water transmission pipes, allowing trenchless repair and rehabilitation, even in smaller pipes, as much as 11 times faster than human crews. Read more...

A Rapid Underground Pipe Rehabilitation Technology

LMK Enterprises, Inc. (Ottawa, Ill.)

  • Project duration: 2 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.701 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $3.411 M


Develop an advanced trenchless technology to rehabilitate the nation's network of underground pipes by employing a novel dynamic resin-injection, molded-in-place pipe (MIPP) process, which can incorporate nanomaterials. Read more...

Development of a Multiscale Monitoring and Health Assessment Framework for Effective Management of Levees and Flood-Control Infrastructure Systems

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.) (Lead)
Geocomp Corporation (Boxborough, Mass.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $3.462 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $6.928 M


Develop a new health assessment framework, ranging from a satellite-based radar system to local sensor arrays to monitor, assess the health, and ensure the safety of levees and other distributed systems of a flood-control infrastructure. Read more...

Development of High-Toughness, Low-Viscosity Resin for Reinforcing Pothole Patching Materials

The Regents of the University of California, (UCLA) (Los Angeles, Calif.) (Lead)
Materia Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.499 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $3.051 M


Develop an innovative pothole repair technology for asphalt pavement in both warm and cold weather using an ultra-high toughness, nano-molecular resin as a reinforcement or binder for the asphalt-aggregate pothole repair material. Read more...

Advanced Coating Technology for Infrastructure

MesoCoat, Inc. (Euclid, Ohio) (Lead)
EMTEC (Dayton, Ohio)
Polythermics (Kirkland, Wash.)

  • Project duration: 3 years
  • Projected TIP contribution: $1.792 M
  • Total project cost (est.): $3.956 M


Develop a novel coating technology using a high-intensity infrared light source to fuse and bond nanocomposite metal coatings and claddings to large steel structures such as bridges, oil rigs and pipelines. Read more...

Released December 15, 2009, Updated January 23, 2023