SC Power Team Success Stories

South Carolina Advanced Materials Advantages

• Over 30,000 South Carolinians employed in these industries
• South Carolina’s Composites Consortium, founded in 2000, supports furthering technological advances in composite manufacturing
• $1.1B in the export sales of plastics in 2016
• South Carolina offers low-cost, highly reliable energy. Electric rates are 15% less than the national average. To discover readily available sites powered by highly reliable, affordable power from the electric cooperatives click “SC Power Sites”
• South Carolina has the lowest rate of unionization in the nation at 1.6 percent

Advanced Materials Brochure

Download Advanced Materials Brochure

Workforce Education & Training

readySC™ and Apprenticeship Carolina™

• Provides skills and technical training to employees of new and expanding businesses in South Carolina
• Works closely with new companies to provide the recruiting, training and workforce development tools and assistance they need to get up and running
• Helps a company’s workforce continue to grow by guiding companies through the registered apprenticeship process from initial information to full recognition in the National Registered Apprenticeship System
• Websites: ReadySC™ and Apprenticeship Carolina™

Composites Manufacturing Technology Center of Excellence (CMTC)

• One of nine Centers of Excellence that serve as technology resources to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the Navy Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech)
• Focuses on the development of manufacturing processes and equipment in a cooperative environment with industry, academia and the Navy industrial facilities and laboratories
• Works to improve manufacturing processes for composites and advanced materials, with applications for modern DoD aircraft, surface ships, submarines, land vehicles and weapons
• Website: Composites Manufacturing Technology Center

Clemson University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Offers M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs in Chemical Engineering
• Strong departmental research programs exist in polymer processing, rheology, fiber and film formation, supercritical fluids, separation processes, energy, kinetics and catalysis, biosensors and biochips, and membrane applications
• Research activities encompass advanced materials, bioseparations, visual process modeling, and molecular simulation ranging from purely theoretical topics to the analysis and improvement of full-scale industrial processes
• Website: Clemson University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Clemson University’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET)

SmartState Center of Economic Excellence

• Research unit of the College of Engineering and Science at Clemson University
• Conducts applied research in wide-ranging areas including organic LEDs, specialty optical fiber, light-emitting plastics, glasses and crystals
• Focuses on application-specific synthesis, characterization and integration of optical materials and optoelectronic structures
• Website: Clemson University’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET)

Clemson University Advanced Materials Center

• internationally recognized for its work in advanced fibers, films, ceramics, plastics, optics, composites and nanomaterials
• 111,000 square foot research laboratory and technology campus in Anderson
• Website: Clemson University Advanced Materials Center

Clemson University Advanced Fiber-based Materials Center

SmartState Center of Economic Excellence

• scholars and entrepreneurs with expertise in natural and synthetic polymer-based advanced fibrous materials, with applications in the automotive, space, athletic equipment and medical markets
• develops advanced synthetic polymers and enhances natural fibrous materials, including wool, cotton and silk
• Website: Clemson University Advanced Fiber-based Materials Center of Economic Excellence

Clemson University's Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics

• created to capitalize on the synergies that exist between the graphic communications and the packaging science departments
• only university program in the country with this multidisciplinary approach to packaging as a core competency
• houses the only research and development center of its kind in the nation
• Website: Clemson University’s Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics

Clemson University Materials Science and Engineering Bachelor’s Degree

• focus on Polymeric Materials
• emphasis on plastics, elastomers, fibers and fibrous materials, films, coating and adhesives
• Website: Clemson University Materials Science and Engineering Bachelor’s Degree

University of South Carolina (USC) Nanocenter

SmartState Center of Economic Excellence

• research team has developed unique capabilities for synthesizing polymer nanocomposites containing custom-made, synthetic platelet materials
• aims to foster innovation in polymer manufacturing through basic research
• strives for joint University/industry development of polymer nanocomposite technology for near-term commercialization
• implements workforce development through student involvement in research, cross-disciplinary education, and industrial internships
• Website: University of South Carolina (USC) Nanocenter

Nanocomposites Manufacturing Partnership (PNMP)

• National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $600,000 over three years to establish the PNMP
• A joint effort of the University of South Carolina (USC) and polymer manufacturing companies located in or near South Carolina
• Website: Nanocomposites Manufacturing Partnership (PNMP)

Savannah River National Laboratory

• Employs a research staff of more than 700, which includes chemists and chemical engineers, as well as a variety of other scientists, engineers and technicians
• 23% of the research staff hold PhDs
• Website: Savannah River National Laboratory

University of South Carolina – Investment in Chemical Research

• USC’s investment in chemical research and development is one of the highest in the nation ranking 14th nationally
• USC is one of just three schools in the southeast, public or private, to rank in the top 15
• USC’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been consistently listed as one of the top 30 programs in the U.S., based on Ph.D. productivity, by the American Chemical Society
• Website: USC’s Investment in Chemical Research

Roger Milliken Research and Customer Center

• Leader in private sector research in the textile industry with more than 2,000 patents
• Home to the largest textile research center in the world
• Milliken & Company is one of the world’s largest privately held textile and chemical manufacturers
• Website: Roger Milliken Research and Customer Center