Founded in 1988, the University of Virginia's Intelligent Processing of Materials Laboratory (IPML) is a premier center for research on the design and synthesis/processing of new materials. Located in the University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the laboratory integrates the development of synthesis and processing techniques with predictive process modeling, in-situ sensing, and closed loop control and applies the methodology to the synthesis of second generation thermal barrier coatings, thin film (solid state) batteries, photovoltaics (Si-H thin films), spintronic devices and multifunctional cellular materials.

The laboratory's research is highly interdisciplinary, with extensive interaction with other universities (both US and in the UK), industry and numerous government laboratories. The laboratory's faculty, scientists, and students have backgrounds in materials science, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, engineering physics, computer science, chemistry and physics. They have published more than 380 technical papers in technical/scientific journals and conference proceedings, and contributed to several books. The laboratory has made many inventions. Its past and current members hold 11 patents with another 25 pending. Two companies have been spun out of the group's research program.