Environment > Scientific environment

The scientific environment in Metz includes a large university with 17000 students (part of Université de Lorraine) and four engineering schools (Ecole Nationale d’Ingéneur de Metz, Arts et Métiers ParisTech-Metz, Electrical Engineering, and GeorgiaTech-Lorraine) ; total about 20000 students. 32 research laboratories are present in Metz ; the largest one is LEM3. The 'Laboratory of Excellence', was recently created from the metallurgical researchers of LEM3 and those of the Jean Lamour Institute in Nancy named 'DAMAS': Design of Alloy Metals for low-mAss Structures.

Traditionally, the valley of Metz is specialized on metallurgy, mostly on steel production (axe Thionville-Metz-Nancy) with the presence of ArcelorMittal in the vicinity of Metz. The largest R&D laboratory of ArcelorMittal is 10 km from Metz. In the recent action of the French Government (called 'Initiative of Excellence') Metz has been awarded the head-quarter of a technological research centre dedicated to Material Science and Metallurgy that spreads all over the north-east of France (IRT M2P).

The local organizer: LABEX DAMAS

The Labex DAMAS was created in 2012 as part of the Program Investing in the Future of the French government. It is uniting the academic research forces of the LEM3 (Metz) and IJL (Nancy) laboratories; both are part of the Lorraine University. In this Labex 80 researchers and about 70 doctorate students are doing excellent research in the areas of mechanical, chemical and physical metallurgy. The LEM3 component of DAMAS developed strong expertise in mechanics of materials expertise, while the SI2M component of IJL is more specialized in material sciences. The four research axes of the Labex DAMAS cover the entire scale of material behavior, from molecular dynamics to mechanical behavior of structures in metals. The main objective is lightening of metal structures, which is possible in two ways: by increasing materials strength, or developing new materials with lower density. Therefore, material strength is the main research field in the Labex DAMAS.

Internet site of the Labex DAMAS:  www.labex-damas.com