texas a&m university and the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) will lead the new gulf coast regional manufacturing center one of five regional centers located across the country as part of the $140 million clean energy smart manufacturing innovation institute (cesmii) announced june 20 by the white house the smart manufacturing leadership coalition headquartered in los angeles california will lead cesmii in partnership with the department of energy the coalition brings together a consortium of nearly 200 partners from across academia industry and non-profitshailing from more than 30 statesto spur advances in smart sensors and digital process controls that can radically improve the efficiency of advanced manufacturing in the united states we are very pleased to have the opportunity to lead this regional center said john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m university system it is a testament to the excellence of texas a&m engineering being part of such a large initiative gives us the opportunity to help revitalize the nations manufacturing industry by providing innovative technologies and solutions chancellor sharp thanked the university administrators researchers and faculty as well as lawmakers such as us rep bill flores who recognized the benefits of smart manufacturing it is exciting for us to be part of such an important nationwide initiative said m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of texas a&m engineering and director of tees with this regional center we will work to help industry implement new smart manufacturing technologies and help train their workforce the work underway at these five regional centers will dramatically change and modernize the current us manufacturing industry the five regional manufacturing centers are each focused on local technology transfer and workforce development tees and the texas a&m energy institute will lead the gulf coast center assisted by industry partners and the university of texas at austin and tulane university and focus on the chemical oil and gas sectors ucla will lead the california regional center in partnership with the city of los angeles harnessing the ability to tap the largest manufacturing base in the us and rensselaer polytechnic institute will lead the northeast center where glass ceramic and microelectronic manufacturing has a strong presence pacific northwest national laboratory will lead a hub in the northwest and nc state university will spearhead a regional center for the southeast we are very excited to lead the gulf region and begin partnering with industry to transform the future of smart manufacturing said professor christodoulos a floudas director of the texas a&m energy institute co-pi and the new director of the gulf coast regional manufacturing center within cesmii combining our efforts with the university of texas at austin and tulane university texas a&ms expertise in multi-scale modeling simulation optimization and control – particularly as it relates to smart manufacturing and clean energy – stand to have a significant impact on the needs of industry and will lead to innovative theories advanced methods practical applications and robust test beds that will benefit society for more information see the white houses fact sheet view president obamas remarks about the institute (starting at 39:50) view the department of energys video on smart manufacturing