Complex metal oxides are a diverse and highly versatile class of materials that can exhibit scientifically and technologically important behaviors ranging from magnetism to piezoelectricity. New technologies and new fields of applications can be realized by expanding the scope of available ionic compositions and increasing the geometric complexity of nanostructures formed from crystalline oxide materials. IRG 2 focuses on probing the synthesis of oxides, increasing the range of available oxide compositions, and forming unique nanostructures – directions that are each enabled by use of novel transformations from the amorphous to crystalline form. This process of solid phase epitaxy, or SPE, allows the crystallization of materials that cannot be made through conventional processing techniques and provides the freedom to develop new materials and explore new properties.