CCMS was formed in 1982 by the faculty members and staff of the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering to provide services to support research, education, and outreach activities. The present focus is composites processing with an emphasis on increasing processing rates.
CCMS membership comes from eleven departments in three colleges across the university.
An industrial affiliates program is designed to encourage and enhance industry-university relationships. Advantages of the affiliates program include receipt of reports and manuscripts pertaining to composites research, contact with students, priority in accessing composites facilities, technical reviews, and contact with faculty members. Research is conducted on an interdisciplinary basis by faculty members located in various departments within the College of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to facilities maintained by individual faculty members, the center maintains and operates a fabrication and testing laboratory. The facility provides autoclaving and hot pressing capabilities for fabricating test panels and components, a clean room for material preparation, a walk-in freezer for material storage, and a fume hood for processing.