Now playing: MUSiC, the first multi-user SiC fabrication facility in the U.S.

With plenty of references to national security and international competition, the University of Arkansas held the grand opening of MUSiC, the first multiuser silicon carbide (SiC) fabrication facility in the U.S. in mid-November. Helmed by Dr. H. Alan Mantooth, the founding director of the UA Power Group (UAPG), the new MUSiC facility will expand the UAPG's capabilities thanks in part to $20 million in funding from the National Science Foundation's Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 Program (Mid-scale RI-1), with additional support from the ARL's Army Research Office and X-FAB. Congressman Steve Womack (R) made it clear that, even when the federal government is pulling back funding for research efforts across the country, he still supports the work at MUSiC.

“This facility is vital,” Womack said during MUSiC's opening ceremony. “Vital to our nation, vital to our national security, vital to our economic development, and we're in a fast-paced cavalry battle right now with near peers around the globe for research on these issues. It is essential we win that race.”