The Division of Materials Research has a new newsletter, which highlights the department's ongoing events, activities, and research. Hear from DMR Director Linda Sapochak on the department's mission, read about the National Strategic Computing Initiative, get the latest on DMR's partnership building opportunities, and more. Check out the inaugural issue.   

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of DMR’s newest MRSECs. This NSF-funded $15.5 million research center is designed to bring eight departments together to study innovative materials.

Recently researchers met to inform NSF research centers about this effort and large-scale vision for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields, and invite and encourage them to get involved.

A group of around 80+ mostly Hispanic K–5 students and their families showed up for the November 5th Cena y Ciencias (Spanish for “Supper and Science”) at Dr. Preston Williams Elementary School in Urbana.

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.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley recently discovered that the venomous bloodworm, Glycera dibranchiata creates its four sharp fangs made of hardened melanin and infused with copper by relying on what’s called a multitasking protein—made primarily of two amino acids. The research was funded by the MRSEC program and was recently published in the journal, Matter as well as covered in the New York Times.

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.

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.