UMass Lowell and US Army to Develop Better Protective Military Gear

University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and U.S., Army have launched the Harnessing Emerging Research Opportunities to Empower Soldiers (HEROES) project to address and develop strategies to enhance soldiers' safety during combat operations.

Scientists from the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Centre (NSRDEC), also known as Natick Labs, will work with faculty, undergraduate and graduate students from the fields of plastics engineering, mechanical engineering, physics and chemistry on projects such as creating better performing parachutes and improving packaging of food rations.

Initially, the joint research team will focus on creating lighter, stronger and more protective flame-retardant camouflage wear and competent, portable solar power cells that will help soldiers carry them more easily than heavy batteries.

"HEROES will bring the vast expertise and resources of the US Army and UMass Lowell to bear on life-or-death issues faced by our military personnel every day around the world," UMass Lowell Chancellor, Martin T. Meehan, said.

The program will be supervised by Ram Nagarajan, an associate professor of plastics engineering at UMass Lowell, Julie Chen, UMass Lowell's vice provost for research and Lynne Samuelson, chief scientist at the Natick Soldier RDEC.

Samuelson holds a PhD degree from the university and is a long-time adjunct professor of chemistry at the university.

Nagarajan told Boston that they will help the team design the next generation of materials that empowers soldiers.

Nagarajan said that Army researchers from Natick will visit the campus two to three days a week. They will team up with one or two faculty members and two students on a project.

Samuelson told the newspaper that army researchers will benefit from visiting the campus thrice a week as they can develop innovative and creative ideas by talking to faculty and students.

For the project, the university has allocated 5,000 square feet to the program. It features laboratories, offices, conference rooms, and a brainstorming room.

The researchers will have access to UMass Lowell's Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center and Army's NRDEC. Natick Labs will test all the newly developed products.