Ohio State awarded $26 million for rubber research from National Science Foundation
The Ohio State University has been awarded $26 million in federal funding to begin natural rubber production in the U.S. and enhance workforce development to support the industry.
The National Science Foundation announced funding for the creation of the Transformation of American Rubber through Domestic Innovation for Supply Security” (TARDISS) Engineering Research Center (ERC).
The first round of funding will last for five years, with an option to renew for five more years and an additional $26 million.
The ERC will create bridges between engineering, biology, and agriculture to support alternative natural rubber production from domestic crops: guayule, the TK “rubber” dandelion, and mountain gum. The initiative will create jobs, train an engineering and agricultural workforce, and relieve supply chain issues by building a domestic rubber supply.
TARDISS will be headquartered at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Wooster campus. Composed of academic partners and supported by industry stakeholders, the group will lead research supporting the creation of what’s being called a “Silicon Valley of Domestic Natural Rubber Production.”
What It Means for Ohio
The project puts Ohio at the center of a global challenge. Tropical rubber trees are threatened in the Brazilian Amazon, as 10% of the natural rubber supply was lost to disease in 2019. Collapse of the supply could disrupt economies around the world.
As lead of the engineering research center, Ohio State will partner with the California Institute of Technology; North Carolina State University; Texas Tech University; the University of California, Merced; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Case Western Reserve University, in addition to industry, educational, and technical organizations including The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society and the Waters Corp.
It’s not the first NSF-funded ERC to be established at Ohio State, as the Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing, Moving from Evolution to Revolution (HAMMER) ERC was awarded funding in 2022. Ohio State is among a small number of universities to have led simultaneous awards.
What They’re Saying
“Our ongoing priority is to support the people, communities and businesses in Ohio by leveraging the expertise and research of our outstanding faculty and students through these partnerships. Ohio State is proud to lead this work advancing domestic natural rubber production in our state and region.”
- Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr.
“Ohio State is prepared to make the most of this opportunity to get domestic natural rubber production up and running. This significant federal support coupled with the large network of expertise under the ERC umbrella positions us well to meet the critical need for a biotechnology-driven solution that boosts domestic manufacturing and reduces reliance on imports.”
- Judit Puskas, professor of food, agricultural and biological engineering (FABE) and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State
“Ohio State is prepared and eager to lead this critical initiative. This center will integrate engineering with biology and other science disciplines to understand how plants naturally produce rubber, leading to breakthrough discoveries. Our innovation ecosystem brings together over 30 industry partners, researchers, students, national labs and the community it serves, and features novel programs to encourage innovation.”
- Ayanna Howard, Dean of the College of Engineering
“As a land-grant university, we are dedicated to integrating research, education and extension to improve industry, the environment and the quality of people’s lives – and we work to ensure that groundbreaking scientific discoveries are brought out of the laboratory and into the hands of those who can put them to work. This investment from NSF celebrates the university’s commitment to research that makes an impact.”
- Cathann A. Kress, Ohio State Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Dean of CFAES
“There is a tremendous amount of economic potential in U.S. bioengineering that will be unlocked by the TARDISS Engineering Research Center. As a leading manufacturer of analytical instruments used in macromolecular characterization, Waters is pleased to support this critical research and the light scattering technologies that will enable the cultivation and extraction of domestically produced natural rubber for the benefit of American industry.”
- Fraser McLeod, vice president, QA/QC Waters Division and Wyatt Technology general manager
“The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society represents hundreds of companies that depend on a stable supply of natural rubber to make critical products for the U.S. economy. This new Engineering Research Center will help shift the production of natural rubber from overseas to domestic sources, thereby improving supply chains for our members and creating many American jobs and startups in our industry.”
- Lakisha Barclay, Executive Director and CEO, Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society
“NSF’s Engineering Research Centers ask big questions in order to catalyze solutions with far-reaching impacts. NSF Engineering Research Centers are powerhouses of discovery and innovation, bringing America’s great engineering minds to bear on our toughest challenges. By collaborating with industry and training the workforce of the future, ERCs create an innovation ecosystem that can accelerate engineering innovations, producing tremendous economic and societal benefits for the nation.”
- NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan
