Introduction
The IMS Center is a leading multi-campus NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) consisting of the University of Cincinnati (lead institution), University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Texas at Austin.  The IMS Center conducts multi-disciplinary research focused on Predictive Big Data Analytics; Cyber-physical Systems; Prognostics and Health Management (PHM); and Industry 4.0, among other related fields. The IMS Center's mission has been to enable industrial machinery and products to achieve and sustain near-zero breakdown performance by detecting and predicting invisible patterns through transforming big data to actionable information. IMS Center's core technology is Watchdog Agent(R) toolbox, a collection of signal processing and machine learning tools designed and customized for industrial big data applications. Analysis results from this toolbox can be used to drive appropriate actions to prevent failures; gain a deeper understanding of system relationships for improving engineering designs, improve operations planning and asset utilization; and ultimately increase uptime and productivity. The application of such technologies ranges from manufacturing to energy, transportation, healthcare and more. Since its inception in 2001, IMS Center has so far conducted more than 100 projects and has been supported by over 100 companies and research institutions worldwide including P&G, GE Aviation, Boeing, Toyota, Nissan, Goodyear, Harley Davidson, Caterpillar, Siemens, Intel, Samsung, Bosch, National Instruments, Siemens, Chevron and many more. The cumulative benefit of IMS technologies was estimated to be $1.4 Billion by 2015.
 
Research Thrust Areas
IMS Center's research thrust areas include Manufacturing (semiconductor, automobile, consumer products, industrial systems etc.), Transportation (railway, automobiles, electric vehicles, aerospace), Energy (wind turbines, gas turbines, batteries) and health care (athlete performance monitoring, neurological data analysis, and cardiovascular data and risk analysis).
 
Center's Recognition and Achievements
The IMS Center has been recognized internationally for being a pioneer and leader in the fields of predictive big data analytics and Industry 4.0. Included among these accolades are:

• Five-time winner of the PHM Society's annual data competition since 2008
• Professor Jay Lee's appointment as the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Advanced Manufacturing and L.W. Scott Alter Chair Professor (2005)
• Recognition of IMS Director, Prof. Jay Lee, as UC's Professor of the Year (2008)
• Prognostics Innovation Award from National Instruments (2012)
• Recognition as the most impactful I/UCRC among over 70 I/UCRC's across the U.S. (2012)
• Prof. Lee selected to serve on the Advisory Committee member for White House Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) American Challenge Initiative (2013)
• Prof. Lee received Alex Schwardkopf Technological Innovation Award (2014)
• Proclamation of City of Cincinnati as the Industry 4.0 Demonstration City led by IMS Center's efforts, by Mayor John Cranley (2014)
• Organizing and hosting the 1st and 2nd German-American Workshop on Cyber-phyiscal Systems and Industry 4.0 (2014-2015)
• SME's Recognition of Prof. Jay Lee as one of 30 visionaries in Smart Manufacturing (2016)

Entrepreneurship
The IMS Center was awarded an NSF I-Corps in 2012, which is a highly competitive program that prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory by providing entrepreneurship training and teaching grantees to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research.