As far back as 1997, the Department of Defense top brass challenged its researchers to adopt computational methods for advanced materials design—an “atoms to armor” approach. Time has shown that the idea was sound. However, 15 years ago, considerable foundational work needed to be done (see sidebar, “Evolution of materials by design”).

Those gaps in the foundational work have since closed, and last spring the Army Research Laboratory (ARL; Adelphi, Md.) established a program that integrates all of the ARL multiscale basic science research on materials into one cohesive effort. Called the “Enterprise for Multiscale Research of Materials (EMRM),” the program integrates all of the multiscale basic science research on materials into one cohesive effort and adopts a materials by design approach to engineering material structure, properties, and performance for armor and electronic materials of strategic interest to the Army.