David McKinnis

Gerhard Klimeck

Purdue’s HUBzero® platform for collaboration and nanoHUB.org, which is part of the Purdue-based Network for Computational Nanotechnology, are key elements of NDEMC. They will support the $4.5 million Midwest Project for SME – OEM Use of Modeling and Simulation project, which is the first large-scale, public-private partnership of its kind involving the U.S. government, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), state and university computing centers, and other non-governmental organizations. It will provide education, training, and access to computing resources to help develop modeling and simulation skills within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and manufacturing workforces. Purdue’s participation in NDEMC will benefit up to 50 Indiana companies.

The project responds directly to President Barack Obama’s call for America to “Out innovate, out educate and out build the rest of the world in order to win the future,” said Ron Bloom, assistant to the president for manufacturing policy. 

The Council on Competitiveness, a nonpartisan group of CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders, is leading the project. NDEMC partners, in addition to Purdue University, include the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Illinois, Ohio Supercomputer Center, and the State of Ohio. Industrial partners include General Electric, John Deere, Lockheed Martin, and Procter & Gamble. In addition to the U.S. Department of Commerce, federal agency partners include the departments of Defense and Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Small Business Administration.