IR4TD believes in sustainable research motivated by the desire to improve conditions for humanity and increase the fundamental understanding of the physical world in which we live. These motivations can lead to great accomplishments via basic and applied research, where IR4TD strives to promote win-win relationships with industrial partners, universities, and sponsored project collaborators. The win-win approach is built on mutual respect and the desire to improve individual and society's conditions.
Under this umbrella, IR4TD is specialized in four primary areas of research:
- Paint and Spray Technology
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Systems
- Non-Destructive Evaluation
- Lean Systems
In the past, the Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD) has worked on many projects of different caliber, topics, and durations. These projects were internally or externally funded by various industries and governmental agencies to conduct multidisciplinary research projects. These included coatings research, renewable energy systems sizing optimizations, power plant energy boosting, and wildfire modeling. Since these topics are inherently interdisciplinary, IR4TD research involves active collaboration with researchers from various departments, such as mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, agriculture, and forestry. At IR4TD, we are heavily involved in experimental and simulation work; for instance, energy research projects largely depend on theoretical analysis and simulations with machine learning tools. On the other hand, the coatings and wildfire projects involved intensive experimentation using Schlieren and infrared imaging and droplet size analysis using laser diffraction techniques. The results of our research are usually disseminated through the scientific community as journal articles and conference papers or presentations.