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The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.) celebrated its 10^th anniversary at its annual Members Meeting June 23-26 in Dayton, Ohio.

“We are in a really strong position in terms of being champions for advanced manufacturing, workforce development, onshoring jobs, supporting economic growth and improving our national security. I think we’re going to continue to have that impact for many, many years to come,” said Chad Duty, CEO of IACMI.

IACMI, one of 18 , was established in 2015 and renewed in 2023, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

The Institute aims to lead composites technology innovation and workforce development solutions, through public-private collaboration, funding projects, workforce development programs and more.

Over the past 10 years, IACMI boasts a number of achievements, including:

• 170+ active members,
• scale-up facilities in eight states valued at $400 million,
• 60+ industry-led technical projects involving 90+ members,
• 5 active Working Groups,
• 3,000+ manufacturing jobs announced,
• 25 new products and technologies commercially available,
• 18,300+ students engaged in STEM outreach across all age levels, and
• 100 industry internships.

“IACMI is synonymous with workforce development,” noted Glenn Richardson, managing director of advanced manufacturing and aerospace at JobsOhio (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.). He spoke about the role IACMI, the (UDRI) and the composites industry have played in bringing new manufacturing sites for companies like Joby Aviation (Santa Cruz, Calif., and Dayton) and Anduril Industries (Costa Mesa, Calif., and soon Columbus) to Ohio.  

Looking ahead: IACMI and the composites industry

The Members Meeting provided a chance for IACMI to look ahead to the future, both for the organization itself and the industry.

Uday Vaidya, CTO of IACMI, listed some of the focuses of the research being done in IACMI’s next phase: Multifunctionality, high rate manufacturing, hybrid materials, diversification of the energy portfolio in collaboration with the DOE’s goals, AI, high-temperature materials, integration with the DOD and its goals, and a continued emphasis on modeling and simulation.

He added, “AI is going to be a piece of every single part of [IACMI 2.0’s] development for sure,” and pointed to work that Purdue University’s Composites Manufacturing & Simulation Center is doing to integrate newly developed AI tools into various stages of the engineering and manufacturing process.

Erin Brophy, COO of IACMI, noted that the institute has 12 Resource Pool projects approved with $420,000 allocated to fund these research efforts, and two of the newer, larger-scale IACMI 2.0 Technical projects currently approved in collaboration with the DOE.

Updates from the DOE, AFRL, NIST

Department of Energy (DOE). Lou Hrkman, principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at the DOE, emphasized that the current U.S. government administration’s energy priorities are on advancing “affordable, reliable, secure energy” and that the biggest challenge is meeting growing energy demands especially as AI data centers continue to be developed.

Hrkman listed natural gas, geothermal energy and nuclear technology as among those with the high potential for growth in the coming years – “We need advanced materials innovation to reach our energy goals,” he added. Specifically, he encouraged the composites industry to focus on development of high-temperature materials for use in geothermal and nuclear energy applications, as well as automation and smart manufacturing to help bring down manufacturing costs and make reshoring competitive.

Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). Jennifer Fielding, chief of the ceramics branch at AFRL, spoke about the composites work AFRL is investing in, including development of bio-based geopolymers; multifunctionality such as embedded sensors and vitrimers for self-healing; agile processes like additive manufacturing (AM); AI and machine learning; and autonomous processing.

In the AM space in particular, AFRL aims to create a roadmap for continuous fiber 3D printing efforts within the defense space, she explained. Through work with companies like Continuous Composites, Orbital Composites, Electroimpact and Impossible Objects, AFRL is advancing AM technologies with the goal of being able to manufacture highly tailorable components at higher rates, lower manufacturing costs and on-site when needed.

“Institutes [like IACMI] are our national treasures in terms of workforce development,” she added.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mike Molnar, director of advanced manufacturing for NIST (Gaithersburg, Md., U.S.), discussed the importance of IACMI as one of the first institutes established within the Manufacturing USA network, which comprises 18 institutes today.

Monar celebrated several of Manufacturing USA’s achievements over the past 10 years: training more than 10,000 people in manufacturing skills, and creating a successful cross-company collaboration network model that is being studied and replicated by China — a point he says is important to acknowledge as a signal of the efficacy of the program and also as reminder that the U.S. needs to continue innovate, improve and evolve the program.

 He went on to emphasize the forward progress including work to develop new national strategic plans for advanced manufacturing and the establishment of a Modern Makers program that aims to inspire young people and foster new talent in the manufacturing work force.

Molnar pointed out the importance of emphasizing people and workforce, “An institute isn’t a building — an institute is the people; it’s the collaboration team,” he said.

Importance of localization & diversification in the supply chain

A panel discussion led by Dustin Davis, VP of business and technology development for Norplex-Micarta (Postville, Iowa, U.S.) focused on supply chain resilience in the composites industry, featuring representatives from A&P Technology, iCOMAT, Teijin Automotive Technologies, Renegade Materials, Applied Composites and Trillion Quality Systems.

The discussion revolved around challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent economic disruptions including geopolitical tensions, tariffs and hyperinflation.

The panelists emphasized the importance of flexibility, communication, and exploring ways to localize and diversify the supply chain. They also discussed the importance of developing standardization for composites across industries and utilizing simulation tools for faster qualification. The discussion concluded with optimism about the composites industry’s potential for growth and technological advancement.

Celebrating retiring CCO Dale Brosius, welcoming incoming CCO Jason Gibson

The Members Meeting provided an opportunity to welcome new members and congratulate retiring ones — including those on IACMI staff.

IACMI chief commercialization officer (CCO) Dale Brosius, who retires the end of June, was interviewed at the event by CW Brand VP Jeff Sloan. The interview looked back on Brosius’s experiences over 45+ years in the composites industry across various companies as an engineer, and industry organizations as a mentor and industry leader, including his work building up IACMI from its earliest days.

These experiences and Brosius’s keen understanding of the industry also enabled him to help CW readers understand complex technical concepts, and he penned 100 entries of his “Perspectives and Provocations” column as well as numerous articles for CW over the years.

“Because I was in the industry and could talk to engineers as engineers, I could then take their insights and try to translate them into language that everyone could understand,” Brosius said during the interview.

He added that one of the most satisfying parts of his career was helping others to foster industry connections: “I’ve always felt that helping people find access to companies who then go off and do business together to be a greater success than having a technical report come out of some structured project.”

Incoming CCO Jason Gibson stepped into his new position officially on June 2, and was also introduced at the Members Meeting. Gibson brings more than 20 years of leadership in the composites industry to the role, primarily at Composites One, where he most recently served as chief applications engineer.

“I am thrilled to join IACMI and contribute to its mission of accelerating the development and adoption of advanced composites,” said Gibson when the new hire announcement was made in May. “IACMI is at the heart of our nation’s composites innovation ecosystem. I look forward to advancing technologies that can drive real impact across energy, defense and sustainability while fostering the workforce needed to support them.”

To learn more and to get involved with IACMI, visit .