March 15, 2007 — The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) Foundation’s Ferrous Metallurgy Education Today Initiative (FeMET Initiative) is accepting proposals for a number of programs for the 2007–2008 school year. The FeMET Initiative is aimed at attracting top scholastic talent to the North American steel industry,

FeMET Design Grant Program seeks innovative designs and solutions to an industry-related theme. The program will direct a team of students and professors work collectively to address an important industry issue or challenge. Proposals must include the team’s approach/methodology, including a budget and schedule requirements. Proposals will be judged based on the following criteria: technical approach and relation to the theme, probability of success, potential benefits, and team qualifications. Teams may be awarded a grant of up to $50,000 for their project.

The theme for 2007 is “Application of State-of-the-world Modeling Techniques to Steel Processes.” Teams should quantify the benefits arising out of the proposed technique and the study. Available data will be provided from AISI to the selected teams. Other data will be determined by investigation during the study. Teams may propose to perform one or more comparative studies as long as they remain within the budget parameters outlined in the proposal instructions.

Completed proposals must be submitted electronically in PDF format to manufacturingt@steel.org by June 1, 2007. Awardees will be announced July 31, 2007 for the 2007-2008 academic year. Questions about the design grant program and/or proposal process should be directed to BV Lakshminarayana at blakshmi@steel.org or 202-452-7143.

FeMET Curriculum Development Grant proposals are being solicited from professors of ferrous metallurgy or materials science at North American universities for funding of a curriculum development assistant to enhance or update industry curriculum in ferrous metallurgy programs. The program objective is to utilize student assistance in the editing and updating of textbooks and/or other course materials for use in ferrous metallurgy education; the underlying objective is to increase industry awareness within the academic community. The proposals must indicate how the professor will approach the task, including budget and schedule requirements. Up to five university professors will be awarded $5,000 each to fund initiatives designed to enhance or update industry curricula in ferrous metallurgy programs.

The maximum allowable time for a curriculum development grant is five years, beginning in the fall of 2006. The number of awards granted depends on fund availability; the maximum grant per award will be $5,000 per year for five years for a total of $25,000.

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Direct benefits to the iron and steel industry and North American ferrous metallurgy/materials science programs.
• The plan’s potential to increase the number of students studying metallurgy and materials science in North America.
• The professor’s expertise and capabilities to fulfill the program objective.

Completed proposals must be submitted electronically in PDF format to lwharrey@aist.org by June 1, 2007. Awardees will be announced July 31, 2007 for the 2007-2008 academic year. Questions about the curriculum development program and/or proposal process should be directed to Lori Wharrey at lwharrey@aist.org or 724-776-6040, ext. 621.

AISI and AIST Foundation together launched the FeMET Initiative to encourage more students to choose metallurgy or materials science as their field of study, to recruit more of such graduates into the steel industry, and to increase the number of professors knowledgeable in steel in North American universities.

The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) was formed on Jan. 1, 2004, by the merger of the Iron & Steel Society and the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers. AIST is an international technical association with more than 13,700 members representing iron and steel producers, their allied suppliers and related academia. The association is dedicated to advancing the technical development, production, processing and application of iron and steel. The AIST Foundation seeks to attract young technology-oriented professionals to the industry by promoting the high-tech, diverse and well-paying natures of careers in modern steelmaking. For more information about AIST, visit www.aist.org.

AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 32 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and 125 associate and affiliate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. AISI's member companies represent approximately 75 percent of both U.S. and North American steel capacity. View AISI’s website at www.steel.org.