Nondestructive evaluation has historically been used almost exclusively for detecting macroscopic defects after materials have been made or put into service. However, the role of NDE is now changing to include in-process control in an effort to increase yields and performance of materials. This includes materials stability during transport, storage, and fabrication, as well as degradation behavior during in-service life. The NDE community has implied that applying NDE in these ways is crucial to solving the economic problems of U.S. manufacturing industries. So called “intelligent manufacturing” is impossible without integrating modern NDE techniques into the production of today's advanced materials.

The Johns Hopkins University Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) was established in 1984 as an interdisciplinary center for research and instruction, drawing on the resources and talent of the School of Engineering, Applied Physics Laboratory, School of Medicine, and School of Arts and Sciences. Currently 31 faculty or senior staff work with the Center. The techniques being developed are aimed at reliable in-process control of materials and processes. Another important purpose is the education of talented students who will enter the NDE field; 150 students are associated with the Center, a third of whom are graduate students. The CNDE also provides both research collaborators and industrial sponsors with access to all NDE research and instruction at Johns Hopkins University. Twenty-six research institutions have formal cooperative research programs and 19 organizations are corporate sponsors (see Figure 1).