At the recent American Physical Society (APS) March meeting in Los Angeles, more than 100 attendees stopped by the NSF MRSEC booth to learn more about this interdisciplinary program.  Close to 50 volunteers representing 16 of the 20 Centers helped answer questions that ranged from “What is the MRSEC?” and “What are the benefits of being involved?” to “How do students become part of the program?” and “How does the funding structure work?”.

The goal of I-MRSEC’s “Musical Magnetism” curriculum was to expose Franklin STEAM Academy eighth grade students to materials science and magnetism, but also to another of the center’s main emphases: scientific communication.

Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers are supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to undertake materials research of scope and complexity that would not be feasible under traditional funding of individual research projects.

New Publication from the Illinois MRSEC: Next-Generation Logic and Memory Devices    By Illinois MRSEC News, Posted July 3, 2018

Consider a hypothetical scenario: A new faculty member is happy to start her independent university faculty career with a substantial startup package, which allows her to purchase a state-of-the art diffractometer. Research is progressing well, and the group is productive. However, come year four, problems commence.

The Division of Materials Science and the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Program are proud to present the first-ever MRSEC Science Slam. With participants from all 19 MRSECs, the Science Slam will feature five-minute long slams on a research highlight or unique broader impact accomplishment. Creativity is key! Non-NSF audience will vote for the winner.

The next time you sink your teeth into a soft slice of bread, think about the material training that went into making that bread. Material training is one of many approaches to designing new materials and involves taking a material and applying a repeated training protocol that modifies small-scale structures in the material. The result is the same material that you started with but with new properties. When it comes to that slice of bread, repeatedly kneading the dough changes its gluten structure and results in a stronger and more elastic version of itself -- and also makes for a truly delicious materials science experiment. That science experiment was one of 19 at the first-ever MRSEC Science Slam, recently held online.

This year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is awarding 11 MRSECs totaling $200 million over six years. In addition to eight existing Centers successfully recompeting, NSF is establishing three new MRSECs.

A multi-institutional team has just published a new way to “read” an antiferromagnet electrically—that is, a new way to determine what its magnetic state is. The discovery is important because magnets play a foundational role in much of today’s technology. For example, computer memory is generally based on magnets; information is stored in the alignment of magnets’ north and south poles, which signify ones or zeros.

In early 2023, the National Science Foundation (NSF) appointed Germano Iannacchione as the new Division Director of its Division of Materials Research (DMR)—a division with a critical objective to invest in the discovery, development, and design of new materials. “Our research makes the expensive, cheap; it makes the dirty, clean; it makes the hard, easy; it makes the dangerous, safe,” says Iannacchione.