Participating in the Center for Tire Research as an industry or government agency member provides many benefits.
- Research, Collaboration and Oversight:
- Industry members collectively propose and select the research projects that membership resources support via representation on the Center's Industry Advisory Board (IAB).
- Direct influence over cutting-edge research of prime interest through project mentoring, internet accessible meetings, and communications with faculty and students.
- Formal project reviews at semiannual Industry Advisory Board (IAB) meetings.
- Rapid transfer of results from projects to all members via project reports, presentations, and the CenTiRe website Members Area.
- First rights and access to developments including patents, licenses, software, and publications depending on membership level. A Full Member can choose to receive a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to patented technology by agreeing to share the cost of obtaining and maintaining the patent.
- A member can elect to send a visiting scientist to a Center's university site to co-work on a project. If this person works on one of the CenTiRe funded projects there is no extra fee required from the member company or agency. An extra fee is required in accordance with each university's access to facilities policy if the visiting scientist works on a separate research project.
- Leveraging Resources and Synergy:
- Access to university research labs with world-class facilities and personnel.
- Highly leveraged investment in strategic research areas for competitive advantage
- No university overhead charges on Center funded research
- Membership fees pooled to fund research
- Use of existing facilities, equipment and expertise available to the faculty and students
- Funding via other NSF grants
- Cost-effective R&D in today’s budget-tight environment, ideal for ROI
- Personnel and Recruitment:
- Access to strong cadre of faculty, students, and post-docs via interactions at the Industry Advisory Board meetings, project mentoring, and one-on-one communications.
- Strong pool of experienced students for internships and co-op positions with industry, and hiring for permanent employment.
- Establish relationships with faculty of the Center's university sites for potential future research or consulting work under separate contract.
- Offering of tire and vehicle engineering and materials curricula, theory and practice.
