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Highlights

Mar 11, 2011
UMass Amherst Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2008)

Mesoscopically Helical Order in Chiral Block Copolymers

Supermolecular, helical assemblies are a common structural motif exploited in far-ranging biological contexts, from the flagellar appendages of swimming microorganisms to the protein coats that sheath rod-like viruses.  The screw-like structure of these
Mar 9, 2011
Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2008)

K-12 Outreach

Jennifer Strong, Linda Lung (NREL) and Barbara Moskal; Renewable Energy MRSEC, NSF DMR-0820518

The Renewable Energy MRSEC and the Adams and Meeker County Public Schools are collaborating on several partnership programs, the Bechtel K-5 Educational Excellence Initiative, the NSF funded GK-12 Learning Partnership, and the ExxonMobil Meeker Partnership. In these partnerships, CSM graduate students in mathematics, science and engineering are placed in support of elementary and middle school teachers and their students for up to fifteen hours each week throughout the academic year.
Mar 7, 2011
Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2008)

Storing Hydrogen in Novel Clathrate Materials

T. Sugahara, S. Sachdeva, D. Baker, J. Haag, M. Braniff, J. Difulvio, D. Rainey, C. A. Koh, A. M. Herring, A. K. Sum, P. C. Taylor, A. Dillon, K. O’Neill; Renewable Energy MRSEC, NSF DMR-0820518

Clathrate materials present a novel class of storage media for hydrogen. These unusual crystalline solids are comprised of a lattice of polyhedral cavities that can trap a range of different guest molecules, including hydrogen. We have successfully demonstrated that hydrogen molecules can occupy large cages of clathrate hydrates at higher pressures, covalently bonded silicon clathrate cages, and hydroquinone clathrates. Computer simulations have revealed the mechanisms of clathrate hydrate formation.