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.

A new form of agricultural pest control could one day take root—one that treats crop infestations deep under the ground in a targeted manner with less pesticide. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed nanoparticles, fashioned from plant viruses, that can deliver pesticide molecules to soil depths that were previously unreachable. This advance could potentially help farmers effectively combat parasitic nematodes that plague the root zones of crops, all while minimizing costs, pesticide use and environmental toxicity.

Olga Ricketts-Peart is not what she calls a “science person.” But she loves science anyway. The 77-year-old has been attending “Science with Seniors,” a program offered at the Levy Senior Center in Evanston that’s gone online in the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third Thursday of each month, graduate students from Northwestern University meet virtually with seniors from the Levy Center for lectures on science and technology, topics that range from sleep to solar cells.

Northwestern Engineering’s Mark Hersam, whose research has led to more effective and sustainable nanomaterials used in electronics, energy storage, and medicine, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Nickel-based spinel oxides show exceptional self-lubrication at extreme temperatures, unlocking potential for aerospace and energy applications.

A class of synthetic soft materials called liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) can change shape in response to heat, similar to how muscles contract and relax in response to signals from the nervous system. 3D printing these materials opens new avenues to applications, ranging from soft robots and prosthetics to compression textiles.

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