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Highlights

Mar 24, 2009
Princeton University

PUMA Students' Minds Energized by Energy

Students from Trenton, NJ participated in PCCM's Princeton University Materials Academy (PUMA), learning about materials science and engineering related to energy sustainability. Working with PCCM faculty Wole Soboyejo and Craig Arnold and their graduate students, the PUMA high school students built their own solar ovens and solar cells from readily available materials, while a guest speaker shared her firsthand experience of the impact of solar cookers in economically and politically devastated regions of the world.
Mar 21, 2009
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Colloidosome Assemblies.

Rotello developed a very rapid and convenient method for fabricating microspheres with walls made of nanoparticles, known as colloidosomes. In this method alkyne and azide functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles are co-assembled at the water-in oil-interface and covalently linked using “click” chemistry under ambient conditions to create magnetic colloidosomes. These colloidosomes are highly stable in water, have size selective permeability, and are responsive towards external
Mar 21, 2009
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Macroscopic Addressable Arrays of Block Copolymers With Areal Densities of 10 Terabit/inch2 and Beyond

A collaboration between researchers funded by the DOE and NSF-supported MRSEC and CHM at UC Berkeley and UMASS Amherst has led to a breakthrough in the areal density of templates derived from block copolymers (BCPs) having orientational registry over macroscopic distances. The facets on a reconstructed single crystal surface, like sapphire, were used to guide and direct the self-assembly of BCPs having 3 nm cylindrical domains over arbitrarily large surfaces. Grazing incidence x-ray scattering (GISAXS) quantitatively demonstrated
Mar 9, 2009
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Fundamental MIT MRSEC research enables life-saving technology

Yoel Fink (MIT), John Joannopoulos (MIT), Edwin Thomas (MIT)

Technology based on fundamental studies carried out within our MRSEC is now saving lives at hospitals across the country: over 175 novel endoscopic surgical procedures per week are being carried out across 250 medical facilities in the U. S. using high-power laser radiation delivered by OmniGuide photonic fibers.
Feb 13, 2009
Carnegie Mellon University

PREM Collaboration yields scientific and educational results

Robert Smith, Rufina Alamo, and Michael Bockstaller

A collaboration between PREM partners, Michael Bockstaller (CMU) and Rufina Alamo (FAMU) had great outcomes for both science and education. A student from Alamos's group at FAMU, Robert Smith, joined Bockstaller's group during the summer to study the effect of selective chlorine substitution on the crystallization of polyethylene. Scientifically, the collaboration resulted in two publications co-authored by Smith, Bockstaller, Alamo, and others (see figures below). Educationally, Smith's exposure to graduate research at CMU led him to apply for graduate school at CMU and elsewhere.
Feb 13, 2009
Carnegie Mellon University

Grain Boundary Lifetimes

Shen Dillon and Gregory Rohrer

The types of grain boundaries that make up the interfacial network within polycrystalline solids influence the properties and performance of the material. The population of grain boundary types is anisotropic, meaning that some of the types are found more frequently than others.