Highlights

A new Materials Science From CU program, Light and Energy, enables students to compare the amount of energy needed to illuminate different types light bulbs. Seen in this photo during the annual STEMapaloozza event held in Denver, Center graduate student Chenhui Zhu encourages a middle student to generate the power to light an array of incandescent light bulbs.

Jul 12, 2010

University of Colorado at Boulder

Cool and Creative Chemistry

Cool and Creative Chemistry is one of the interactive classes of the LCMRC Materials Science from CU K-12 outreach program. MSFCU presentations, designed by Center faculty and students, have been presented to 65,000 Colorado children over the past 10 years. The photo was taken during a presentation at Super Science Saturday at the Steelworks Museum of Industry & Culture in Pueblo, Colorado. Photo: John Jaques/Pueblo

Jul 12, 2010

University of Colorado at Boulder

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon-Based Picoprojectors

Picoprojection is the latest advanced display technology enabled by ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon microdisplays, developed by LCMRC spin-off company, industrial partner, and collaborator Displaytech, now a division of Micron, Inc.. LCMRC researchers pursue new liquid crystal materials and alignment systems enabling low power consumption bistable liquid crystal switching.

Jul 9, 2010

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Assembly of Polymer-Functionalized Nanoparticles on Metal Droplets for Electronics

Dinsmore at the UMass Materials Research Science and Engineering Center demonstrated a simple and robust approach to fabricating nano-scale electrical contacts to nanoparticles. PEGfunctionalized nanoparticles assemble spontaneously on droplets of liquid metal; when two droplets are brought into contact, they remain separated by the nanoparticles at the interface (top figure). Junctions formed by this method show electron transport that is limited by the nanoparticles (bottom figure). The conductance can be tuned by a gate electrode to make transistors at the micronscale.

Jul 9, 2010

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Education Outreach Programs at The Boston Museum of Science

A group of MRSEC researchers, staff, and graduate students visited the Boston Museum of Science on July 15, 2009 for a day of public demonstrations and presentations to encourage thought and discussion about polymers. The Ventures in Science Using Art Laboratory (VISUAL) program had an ongoing exhibit of images at the Museum from May through August, and coordinated a presentation to teach the audience about materials and capture their attention using visually striking images gathered during the course of MRSEC research at UMass.

Jul 7, 2010

University of Colorado at Boulder

Exotic Phases of Banana-Shaped Molecules

L. E. Hough, H. T. Jung, D. Krüerke, M. S. Heberling, M. Nakata, C. D. Jones, D. Chen, D. R. Link, J. Zasadzinski, G. Heppke, J. P. Rabe, W. Stocker, E. Körblova, D. M. Walba, M. A. Glaser, and N. A. Clark

Banana shaped molecules, like the one shown in the figure, like to pack into layers but when they do, they have a hard time making flat ones. Their layers have a strong tendency to buckle up into saddles, and when the saddles try to fill space interesting things happen. If the layers are crystal-like they can only form the twisted nanofilaments in the top of the image. If the layers are fluid, like in a liquid crystal, then they form the "plumbers nightmare" of nested tubes and connections, the "sponge phase",at the

Jun 21, 2010

California Institute of Technology

Quantifying 3D Traction Forces of Epithelial Cell Clusters

Anand Asthagiri and Guruswami Ravichandran

When cells assemble together in a cluster, they apply force to each other. The way in which cells signal each other with and respond to forces is not well understood. Therefore, we study the traction forces cells apply to the substrate beneath them. The results show exterior cells apply tractions to the substrate that are an order of

Jun 21, 2010

California Institute of Technology

“Stretchy” Near-Infrared Metamaterials

Harry A. Atwater, Koray Aydin*, Imogen M. Pryce* and Dennis M. Callahan *CSEM supported researchers

Metamaterials are engineered structures with novel electromagnetic properties such as artificial magnetism, negative refraction, and cloaking. Thus far, most metamaterial designs have been limited to fixed, narrow frequency range of operation determined by the size of the constitutive resonator elements. Work within the NSF funded Center for the

Jun 21, 2010

Harvard University

Soft Matter Science revealed through Cooking

Acclaimed chef Jose Andres visited the Harvard MRSEC to collaborate with Center researchers and speak to students in the ES139. Innovations in Science and Engineering class; the laboratory and classroom discussions were filmed for a feature on 60 Minutes through a special agreement with the

Jun 21, 2010

Harvard University

Entropy Favors Asymmetry in Colloidal Self-Assembly

Guangnan Meng, Natalie Arkus, Michael P. Brenner, and Vinothan N. Manoharan

Two self-assembled colloidal clusters, as seen under the optical microscope. The cluster on the left, a tri-tetrahedron, and the cluster on the right, an octahedron, have the same energy. But in an experiment where both clusters are allowed to form randomly in solution, the less symmetric tri-tetrahedron occurs more than twenty times as often as the highly symmetric octahedron because of the many more ways to form the tri-tetrahedron.