HEMI Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary

Apr 22, 2022 | No Comments | By Michelle Pagano

April 16, 2022 marked the 10-year anniversary of the establishment of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI).

Below is a message from K.T. Ramesh, Director of HEMI to commemorate the occasion.

With this anniversary, I would like to personally express my gratitude, and my appreciation, to the Fellows, postdocs, students, and staff of HEMI. Your passion, your perseverance, and your good nature have been fundamental to the success of the institute, and I personally have found real delight in our time together.

I would also like to express our appreciation of the many leaders at Johns Hopkins, particularly in the Whiting School of Engineering, who have provided major investments, critical resources when needed, and steadfast engagement and support for HEMI over the last ten years.

Finally, I’d like to recognize the support that we have received from several federal sponsors, and in particular from the U.S. Army and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

As I reflect on HEMI’s past, I am amazed both at what we have accomplished and by the breadth of the people who have driven these accomplishments. These include:

• Performing cutting-edge research. Since its inception, HEMI has over $150M in funded proposals, the two largest of which created the Materials in Extreme Dynamic Environments program and the Materials Science in Extreme Environments University Research Alliance.
• Building a community of collaborators. Through our faculty and staff, our research model, and some innovative strategies, HEMI has built a community of over 35 university and research partners that span 19 states and three foreign countries.
• Engaging with the local Baltimore academic community. Initiatives such as the Extreme Science Internship program with Morgan State University and the Extreme Arts program with the Maryland Institute College of Art have exposed HEMI researchers to a variety of perspectives that have helped us all view our efforts in new ways.
• Developing the next generation workforce. At this time, our HEMI alumni consist of 74 postdoctoral scholars, 61 PhD students, 34 visiting scholars, and 176 undergraduate researchers. Our doctoral graduates have transitioned to positions in academia (36%), industry (44%), and national labs (16%); among our postdocs, the transitions have been to academia (72%), industry (12%) and national labs (8%). These are outstanding distributions, consistent with our mission.
• Investing in state-of-the-art facilities. HEMI has committed over $7M to facilities at JHU, expanding the capabilities of our researchers to advance the fundamental science and engineering associated with materials and structures under extreme conditions.

I view these accomplishments as even more impressive given that we have operated under the challenges of COVID during the past two years. My own sense is that much of the credit for these accomplishments during the pandemic should be given to our staff, our students, and our postdoctoral fellows.

On this 10^th anniversary, I hope that you take as much pride as I do in being a part of the HEMI community. It has been an incredible journey so far, and I look forward to the next 10 years.