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Program Highlights

Complementary Methods for Characterizing Excitations in Hybrid Materials

The UD MRSEC team is developing and employing a suite of novel experimental characterization techniques that provide important insights into hybrid materials, in which unique properties arise due to interactions between material constituents.

Science and Cooking: Highlighting Indigenous Scientific Innovations and Traditions

The Harvard MRSEC is partnering with Navajo Technical University to develop robust pathways to scientific careers for Native American students. The partnership strives to bring to the forefront scientific traditions and innovations of indigenous peoples.

Liquid-induced Topological Transformations of Cellular Microstructures

A team at the Harvard MRSEC led by Aizenberg and Bertoldi has developed a dynamic design strategy to achieve topological transformations of two-dimensional polymeric cellular lattices in a reversible and controllable manner through exposure to different liquids.

Mechanochemical Adhesion and Plasticity in Multifiber Hydrogel Networks

Burdick and Shenoy have designed synthetic actively remodeling networks using electrospun fibers containing reactive groups that form c

Interaction Range Can be Tuned to Control Failure Mode in a Model Experimental Disordered Solid

The long-standing goal of increasing material toughness and decreasing brittle failure is elusive in part due to lack

Bioinspired 3D-Printed Hydrogel Actuators that Perspire

The role of robots is increasing in our daily lives, requiring robots to work continuously for long periods, requiring high energy output. These machines are prone to high heat dissipation due to friction and actuation, especially in DC motors and thermally controlled actuators. A Cornell team investigated whether robots can regulate body temperature by sweating, just as humans do.

Partnerships for Commercializing New Technologies

Faculty at Cornell have combined detector-building experience with electron microscopy expertise to develop the Electron Microscope Pixel Array Detector, or EMPAD. Partnering with a leading scientific instrument manufacturer, this technology is now available as an option on new electron microscopes from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Solid-Phase Epitaxy: A Means to Control Atomic-Scale Structure in Complex Materials

Wisconsin MRSEC researchers have developed a method to synthesize materials with precisely controlled crystal structures, even when the same atoms could arrange themselves into a different structure with nearly the same energy. The methods allow them to make highly perfect films of cubic aluminum oxide with widespread applications in electronic materials, catalysis, and surface passivation.

New Insights into Surface Diffusion on Glasses

Understanding how atoms move is fundamental to making and using materials. Atoms on the surface of some glasses move at nearly the same rate as atoms on the inside. But for other glasses, surfaces atoms move a million times faster.

Accelerating Innovation through Licensing, Commercialization, and Startups

The NU-MRSEC amplifies its societal impact by engaging industry and other partners, promoting commercialization, and providing shared facilities that are informed by the latest materials research.  In this manner, the latest scientific developments are efficiently brought to the marketplace, and society at large.

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