{"id":223082,"date":"2025-01-09T07:15:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T12:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=223082"},"modified":"2025-01-07T08:44:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T13:44:34","slug":"d2ream-engineering-where-research-meets-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/01\/d2ream-engineering-where-research-meets-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"D2REAM Engineering: Where Research Meets Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Connecticut\u2019s\u00a0Digital Design Research, Analysis, and Manufacturing (D2REAM) Center<\/a> has received a second round of funding to continue its work supporting advanced structural digital design and manufacturing, and discovery of novel metamaterials.<\/p>\n

The funding is aimed at continuing academic, government, and industry partnerships that are developing groundbreaking modeling and simulation capabilities that can support the next generation of Army ground vehicle systems.<\/p>\n

The $5 million in new federal government funding comes from a cooperative agreement with the United States Army\u00a0Combat Capabilities Development Command\u00a0(DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) in Warren, Michigan.\u00a0GVSC\u00a0maintains collaborations with higher education, defense and automotive industry parties to co-develop key ground vehicle technologies.<\/p>\n

At the national level, GVSC\u2019s research collaborations focus on a wide range of topics, from ground vehicle autonomy to propulsion and virtual prototyping.<\/p>\n

The D2REAM Research Center launched within UConn\u2019s College of Engineering (CoE) in July 2023. It is focusing on four main areas: advanced structures and materials, advanced manufacturing and processing, AI-driven product development, and design and virtual prototyping of engineered systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost and time needed to collect data through physical prototyping is prohibitive, which is where the advanced modeling and simulation tools developed through the D2REAM projects provide a key advantage,\u201d says Horea Ilies, professor and director of the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, who leads the center along with Castleman Professor of Engineering Innovation Associate Professor Juli\u00e1n Norato. \u201cThese projects drive the next-generation capabilities in advanced structural digital design and manufacturing, and the discovery of materials with extraordinary properties that defy conventional expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"D2REAM
The D2REAM Research Center team is continuing its work supporting advanced structural digital design and manufacturing, and discovery of novel metamaterials. (Christopher LaRosa \/ UConn College of Engineering Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norato says that the first round of research and development involved 11 projects, nine principal investigators (PIs), and included 10 graduate students. The second round will feature 12 projects and 11 PIs, and a similar number of students.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch at the D2REAM Research Center provides graduate students with a multi-faceted educational experience,\u201d Norato says. \u201cBy engaging in groundbreaking projects across advanced structures and materials, AI-driven product development, and advanced manufacturing, students gain practical expertise with technologies transforming the industry. Through close partnerships with our faculty, our Army partners, and industry collaborators, students refine their skills in digital design and manufacturing, and work in multidisciplinary teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these experiences,\u201d Ilies adds, \u201cand by cultivating technical expertise, innovation, and leadership acumen, graduate students not only expand their technical depth but also acquire the skills required for successful careers in academia and industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilies says that at the D2REAM Research Center, the research is fundamentally driven by a deep understanding of engineering principles, with a broad spectrum of potential applications spanning consumer, industrial, and defense technologies.\u00a0 Its objective is to formulate and develop novel digital engineering models that will help the Army and the industry as a whole make more accurate performance predictions of their designs, and better engineering decisions, which in turn will further reduce the need to build physical prototypes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntegrating digital engineering models into the material development process is crucial to efficiently and quickly deliver capabilities to our fighters,\u201d says Dr. David Gorsich, GVSC\u2019s chief scientist. \u201cThis is true on the government and industry sides, and both need well-trained employees and the best computational design and manufacturing tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those capabilities don\u2019t exist we rely on research done in academia to support us,\u201d Gorsich continues. \u201cI am very pleased University of Connecticut is part of our team advancing the state-of-the-art in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary beneficiaries of the D2REAM Center’s research activities include a broad spectrum of governmental and industrial entities, all of which face similar challenges in integrating digital engineering models into the product-development process. Advanced simulation tools and digital twins are especially valuable to the aerospace industry in Connecticut, and to the industry at large, as they enable virtual prototyping and model-based systems engineering, reducing the need for physical testing, and accelerating development cycles.<\/p>\n

\"D2REAM
D2REAM team members include (from left) doctoral students Tuan Nguyen, Rakesh Balamurugan, Syed Ahmad, and Prabin Pradhananga, and Center Directors Juli\u00e1n Norato, and Horea Ilies. (Christopher LaRosa \/ UConn College of Engineering Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUConn is home to very strong research ecosystems that build powerful partnerships between academia, government, and industry,\u201d says UConn President Radenka Maric. \u201cIndustry leaders rely on a talented workforce, implementable research, and tangible connections to other public agencies. Our partners in industry look to us to provide the intellectual capital, creativity, and hands-on expertise that turn ideas into reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

CoE Dean JC Zhao echoed Maric\u2019s sentiments. \u201cThis is another example of the leadership role UConn and our College of Engineering is taking in establishing itself as a prominent player in this dynamic arena,\u201d says Zhao. \u201cWe are building one of the strongest computational design and manufacturing groups in the nation, and students, faculty, industry and the military are noticing our growth and achievements. I want to congratulate the D2REAM team on their continuing success and what I\u2019m sure will be many future accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The D2REAM Research Center embodies many of UConn\u2019s biggest strengths as a R1 institution. The university has built a strong reputation for research excellence in areas such as national security, aerospace technology, advanced manufacturing, and AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn\u2019s greatest strengths shine through in the work being conducted at the D2REAM Research Center,\u201d says Pamir Alpay, UConn vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. \u201cOur faculty and student researchers are developing technology that can make many aspects of our world safer. We are proud to work with our partners through this grant, which further highlight\u2019s UConn\u2019s impact on the state and the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn\u2019s D2REAM Center research activities address vital needs of governmental and industrial entities, all facing challenges integrating digital engineering models into the product-development process<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":223084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866,2471,2076,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2315],"class_list":["post-223082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr","category-economic-development","category-research","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 18:45:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223082"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223221,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223082\/revisions\/223221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/223084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223082"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=223082"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=223082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}