OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH PROGRAM INCLUDE: 1) LASER PROCESSING SIMULATION OF POWDER MELTING CONSOLIDATION AND SOLIDIFICATION TO PREDICT THERMAL TRANSIENTS AND DEFORMATIONS ACROSS THE MANUFACTURED COMPONENT; 2) MICRO-SEGREGATION MODELING DURING SOLIDIFICATION TO PREDICT SOLUTE DISTRIBUTION AND PHASE FORMATION DURING SOLIDIFICATION IN THE MELT ZONE AND IMPROVE COMPONENT DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING STRATEGIES; 3) MICROSTRUCTURE MODELING IN THE HEAT AFFECTED ZONE TO PREDICT GRAIN SIZE ACROSS THE MANUFACTURED COMPONENT AND PRECIPITATE DISTRIBUTION DUE TO THERMAL TRANSIENTS EXPERIENCED DURING MANUFACTURE AND IN POST-PROCESSING. ALL SIMULATIONS IN THIS PROGRAM WILL UTILIZE HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING. 4) VALIDATION OF PREDICTIONS AND EXPLORATION OF PROCESS SPACE IN A OPEN-ARCHITECTURE SELECTIVE LASER MELTING (SLM) SYSTEM AND CHARACTERIZATION OF RESULTING MICROSTRUCTURE USING METALLOGRAPHIC AND ELECTRON BEAM TECHNIQUES TO PROVIDE INSIGHT FOR MODEL REFINEMENT.