'Advanced Materials: Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties'LRSM, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut St., Philadelphia PA 19104-6202All lectures are on Thursdays at 5.30 pm and are followed by pizza/refreshment

The program will address the lively field of ferroic materials. Examples include but are not limited to (anti)ferromagnets, (anti)ferroelectrics, and ferroelastics. Such materials are characterized either by long-range magnetic or dipolar orders or by a spontaneous strain deformation. In this framework, multiferroics, which display more than one ferroic property, are multifunctional materials that response to more than one external perturbation in a useful way.

This workshop will cover different aspects of the bottom-up design of electronic materials from assemblies of metal and semiconductor nanocrystals, drawing on existing expertise in organic and disordered conductors. These nanocrystalline solids combine unusual optical, electronic, magnetic and themla properties. Potential applications include photodetectors, LED, solar-cells, thermoelectric and printable electronics.

Pressure is a variable that plays a key role in a large variety of phenomena that range from large scale effects at the interior of planets to small energy scale properties such as quantum critical behavior and a diversity of exotic phase transitions in, for instance, strongly correlated electron materials. With this kick-off conference we would like to bring together scientists working in this field and to provide a forum for intense discussion and examination of the most advanced aspects of the use of high pressure for the investigation of these phenomena.

The International Center for Materials Research (ICMR) at UC Santa Barbara will hold a Summer School on the Preparative Strategies in Solid State and Materials Chemistry from August 8-21, 2010 at UCSB. The school is aimed at future leaders of Materials Science: proponents of the idea that selection of materials for specific functions should depend solely on which material is optimal, rather than on what the investigator is familiar with. Candidate attendees are students close to finishing their PhD, and whose research involves materials preparation.

MRSEC Director’s Meeting Agenda National Science Foundation June 23-24, 2010 Dinner 6/23 Business meeting of NSF program directors, chair/vice chair, and working group leaders* (Pinzimini 6:30 PM) Meeting Day NSF Stafford II - room 555 (pick-up badge in the main building first)

The International Center for Materials Research (ICMR) at UC Santa Barbara will hold a Summer School on the Intersection of Surface Science with Biomolecular Structure and Function from June 19th – July 1, 2010 at UCSB. The School is aimed at graduate students and junior researchers working in the field of surface science that have interest in simulation, characterization, experimental approaches of biomolecule-surface interactions.