The National Science Foundation has announced the funding of a new Engineering Research Center (ERC) to explore producing natural rubber in the United States. Currently, more than 90 percent of the plants necessary to create the coveted material are located in a small area of Southeast Asia. The center, to be called the Transformation of American Rubber through Domestic Innovation for Supply Security (TARDISS), will be headquartered at the Ohio State University and will include a significant presence at UC Merced.
The UC Merced team expects to work closely with students, farmers, processors and manufacturers to understand how plants produce rubber, develop new crop variants, disseminate smart crop production practices and much more. Aided by the ERC, the new domestic industry is projected to create an estimated 2 million jobs in the United States.
CITRIS-affiliated researchers involved in the new center include the ERC’s co-principal investigator, Kara McCloskey, as well as Erin Hestir, campus director of CITRIS at UC Merced; Josué Medellín-Azuara, professor of environmental engineering; Colleen Naughton, professor of civil and environmental engineering; and former campus Director Joshua Viers.