EMA Advanced Optics Lab

Through a Massachusetts Technology Collaborative award, the University of Massachusetts Amherst received $5 million to help create an open-access additive manufacturing and design/testing facility on campus.

The grant, from the Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant Program, will augment UMass Amherst’s capabilities in the advanced manufacturing space and increase its collaboration with universities across Massachusetts around R&D for advanced optical technologies, which have applications in biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental monitoring, and general electronics.

The facility will be the first publicly accessible facility of its kind in the country and will support testing, research, and production of advanced optical technologies. Through the project, UMass Amherst will collaborate with Electro Magnetic Applications Inc. (EMA), which specializes in the testing and design of materials used in space and operates at the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC) in Pittsfield, and other industry partners, as well as Northeastern University, Springfield Technical Community College, and Berkshire Community College. The BIC will act as a bridge between industry, academia, and government to help develop an additive manufacturing talent pipeline by providing workforce

Interested in receiving more information:

Reach out to Tim Butterworth tim@the-bic.org