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Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a spray-on polymer coating that could help plants resist harmful bacterial infections and survive drought. The advance, published in ACS Materials Letters, could help strengthen global food security as increased environmental stresses continue to intensify plant disease pressures.

Division: Materials Research (MPS/DMR) Directorate: Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Job Type:  STEM Appointment Type:  Temporary / Rotator Position Summary

The analytical facilities at Penn State, the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Minnesota are collaborating on a free seminar series on characterization. One hour Zoom lectures will be held three times per week starting March 30th. The initial lectures will provide broad overviews of various analytical techniques. Future lectures will address more specific measurements, applications and materials.

New research by engineers at the University of Illinois combines atomic-scale experimentation with computer modeling to determine how much energy it takes to bend multilayer graphene – a question that has eluded scientists since graphene was first isolated. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Materials.

Northwestern University engineers have developed a new nanoelectronic device that can perform accurate machine-learning classification tasks in the most energy-efficient manner yet. Using 100-fold less energy than current technologies, the device can crunch large amounts of data and perform artificial intelligence (AI) tasks in real time without beaming data to the cloud for analysis.

Helium may be the second-most abundant element in the universe, but on Earth it’s a finite, nonrenewable resource. Helium is so light that it’s not trapped by the lower levels of Earth’s atmosphere. And it’s extremely challenging to capture, since it’s relatively unreactive. Liquid helium is a critical ingredient in systems for cooling equipment used to study quantum systems and image atoms, as well as in the high-performance magnets used in MRI scanners and particle accelerators. But if it is not carefully contained, helium flies to the farthest reaches of the atmosphere or even out into space when it boils.

This past summer, about a dozen PREM faculty and students from the University of Central Florida joined MRSEC faculty and students at the University of Washington for their annual retreat at the Pack Forest Conference Center in Washington State. Against the beautiful backdrop of Douglas firs, nearly 85 materials scientists had the opportunity to share research ideas, brainstorm solutions, and collaborate.

A $162 million investment from the U.S. National Science Foundation will drive the creation of advanced materials capable of remarkable things — from being tough enough to withstand the heat of a fusion reactor to processing information at the quantum level. Nine Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs) will each receive $18 million over six years. The centers aim to transform fundamental scientific breakthroughs into tangible benefits for multiple sectors of the U.S. economy and innovations that can be produced on tomorrow's factory floors.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new type of material that could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water.

Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Pinshane Huang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering and MRSEC IRG1 Leader has been recognized by Physics World as being responsible for one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2025.