Grainger Gift Engineers a Brighter Future for Engineers

Photo of sculpture by Jeff Miller, University Communications.

Dan Thoma is looking to redefine the technological age in which we live.

“The ages of human development are based on the materials peoples of the day used: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age,” he told the UW College of Engineering. “Technology is the driver. Materials are the enabler, so that discovery point is really what impacts society.”

Formerly a deputy leader of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Materials Science Division, Thoma was attracted to the UW to lead the new Grainger Institute for Engineering.

Funded by a $25 million gift from the Grainger Foundation, the new institute aims to be a transdisciplinary catalyst for transformational research. The gift includes an endowment for professorships, faculty scholar awards, and postdoctoral fellowships, and it aims to enable the UW to hire clusters of top faculty who will help define the directions for new research.

Thoma, who earned his PhD in metallurgical engineering at the UW in 1992, helped Los Alamos develop a new alloy design team. He hopes that the Grainger Institute will help develop technologies that can quickly be turned into commercial products.

“Everything is in place that just makes this so natural,” said Thoma. “The university has always been scientifically relevant, and relevant on a technical and engineering level. It has been a resource and a pipeline for industry, and now we can start developing these interactions and capabilities that can benefit industry.”

Chancellor Rebecca Blank has named research and innovation — helping the UW extend the boundaries of knowledge — as one of her leading priorities for the UW, and the Grainger gift will give the College of Engineering a solid boost in that effort.

“The positive and transformative effects of this investment within the College of Engineering will resonate throughout the state and our nation far into the future,” Blank said. “Through innovation in advanced manufacturing technologies and education of the workforce, the institute will accelerate the renaissance of the U.S. manufacturing industry and enhance the nation’s economy.”