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Program Highlights

Speaker Kits to Engage Middle Schoolers in Magnetism Science

In February 2024, I-MRSEC investigator Daniel Shoemaker, grad student Emily Waite, and outreach coordinator Pamela Pena Martin taught 35 7th and 8th graders at  Franklin STEAM Academy, a Champaign public middle school, about magnetism through a kit they developed, supported by the I-MRSEC and a grant from the APS Group on Magnetism and its Applications. This visit was part of an annual 7-week program that teaches materials science concepts through hands-on activities aimed to build interest and confidence in STEM.

Encapsulating Cell-Free Reactions in Hydrogels

A critical element of Northwestern University MRSEC IRG-1 is interfacing cell-free systems with abiotic materials in a way that supports cell-free reaction efficiency and kinetics. In this work, the capacity of bilayer-based compartments (e.g., liposomes, polymersomes) is being assessed to support encapsulated cell-free reactions upon their inclusion in a larger hydrogel matrix.

NSF Big Idea
Synthetic Materials Biology

Monolithically Integrated Ultra-High-Resolution Vertical Organic Electrochemical Transistor Arrays and Complementary Circuits

Northwestern University MRSEC IRG-2 has realized ultra-high-density and mechanically flexible vertical organic electrochemical transistor (vOECT) arrays and complementary circuits through  electron-beam patterning of the conjugated organic semiconductors by electron-beam exposure. The high energy electron-beam disrupts the conjugation in the exposed organic semiconductor area, creating an electronic insulator while retaining ionic conductivity and topological continuity with the redox-active unexposed areas.

NSF Big Idea
Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier

Imaging and Analysis Center at Princeton University (2023-2024)

The Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC), supported by PCCM, is a world-leading facility for materials characterization. Its central mission is the education, research, and training of students at Princeton University and beyond. The IAC also collaborates with researchers in industry and other academic institutes.

Imaging and Analysis Center at Princeton University (2022-2023)

The Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC) supported by PCCM is a world-leading facility for materials characterization. Its central mission is the education, research, and training of students at Princeton University and beyond. The IAC also collaborates with researchers in industry and other academic institutes.

Holiday Lecture 2023: “A World of Patterns”

The 2023 Holiday Science Lecture “A World of Patterns” was held at Princeton University on December 9, 2023 with over 400 people attending two lectures at McDonnell Hall. Howard Stone and other PCCM researchers (including graduate student and postdoctoral presenters) illustrated ideas of shape, symmetry, packing and pattern formation.

Holiday Lecture 2022: “Engine Earth”

The 2022 Holiday Science Lecture “Engine Earth” was held at Princeton University on December 3, 2022 with over 500 people attending two lectures at McDonnell Hall.

Holiday Lecture 2021 “Let it Flow: A Festival about Fluids”

PCCM partnered with the Harvard University MRSEC to host the annual Holiday Lecture on December 11, 2021. Taking on a completely original and new topic for 2021, PCCM focused on fluid dynamics in its presentation: Let it Flow: A Festival about Fluids.

Making Soft Matter Accessible: Teacher Workshops on Science & Cooking

The Harvard MRSEC engages K-12 teachers and students through the science of everyday materials. Through a collaboration with Bite-Scized Education, led by teacher Kate Strangfeld, the MRSEC co-develops workshops for teachers and after-school programs for K-12 students that are modeled on the Science and Cooking course developed by David Weitz and Michael Brenner,  and teach science through food and cooking.

Soft Bioelectronics for In Vivo Neural Probes

Existing high-resolution neural recording devices cannot achieve simultaneous scalability on both spatial and temporal levels due to a trade-off between sensor density and mechanical flexibility. A team led by Liu, Bertoldi, Kozinsky, and Suo has introduced a 3D stacking implantable electronic platform, based on perfluorinated dielectric elastomers and tissue-level soft multilayer electrodes, that enables spatiotemporally scalable single-cell neural electrophysiology.

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