Center for Strategic Materials Research and Policy Study

The Center for Strategic Materials Research and Policy Study was established within the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering by congressional legislation. That legislation provided for a $9.6 million research facility and a $5 million facility for strategic materials policy study.

Strategic materials are essential in the production of high- temperature alloys, steel and stainless steel, industrial and automotive catalysts, and solid-state electronic components used in computers. Research in the center focuses on improving domestic mineral production and metal processing of strategic materials, the exploration for new domestic and free-world supplies of strategic materials, the evaluation of substitutes for strategic materials, the development of recycling technology, and the evaluation of existing laws and strategic materials policy.