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The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Princeton University addresses fundamental problems in the science and engineering of complex materials. Research in this Center, which has been named the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, is organized into four interdisciplinary research groups. The Center also provides seed funding for new opportunities in materials research. The Center supports efforts in materials education at all levels including summer undergraduate research experiences, a topical summer institute for graduate students working on materials-related areas, and outreach to the pre-college level via an internet-based software developed by the Center and prototyped in a nearby science museum. The MRSEC also supports shared experimental facilities that are accessible to center participants and to outside users, and has strong research collaborations with industry and national laboratories.

A common theme in the four interdisciplinary research groups of the MRSEC is fundamental understanding of the links between molecular structure or mesoscopic texture and macroscopic properties with the goal of rationally designing materials for technological purposes. One group investigates the unusual phases and excitations in low-dimensional electronic materials, including high temperature superconductors and semiconductor heterostructures. A second group explores engineered structures based on semiconducting organic thin films for application to optoelectronic devices. A third group pursues the materials science of organic molecules that order spontaneously in solutions or melts with an outlook on advanced lubricant and novel lithographic applications. A fourth group emphasizes the development of nanostructured composites with improved mechanical and dielectric properties by mimicking biological composite materials. Participants in the Center currently include 26 senior investigators, 8 postdoctoral associates, 16 graduate students, 14 undergraduates, and 3 technicians and other support personnel. Professor William B. Russel directs the MRSEC.

The range of possible semiconductor materials and materials properties is extensive and barely explored. Materials processing routes that allow fabrication of single-crystalline semiconductor structures for which one or more dimensions are smaller than 100 nm (dots, ribbons, membranes) provide opportunities to realize material states and behaviors that are unconventional and unexpected. IRG 1 examines how the combination of nanoscale patterning and structuring, strain manipulation, and phase engineering can be used to push semiconductor materials from their natural ‘bulk’ states to realize unique and undiscovered functionality.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins University supports research on nanostructured materials, with a focus on the development of novel low dimensional nanostructures with unique physical properties and diverse technological applications. The research combines experimental and theoretical studies to develop an understanding of the interrelationship between the properties of nanostructures and the degrees of freedom available for their design and fabrication. Materials to be studied include multilayers of functionally dissimilar materials, e.g. metals and insulators, arrays of nanowires, and ultrafine granular materials. The MRSEC also supports shared experimental facilities for materials research, exploratory research through seed funding, and collaborations with industry and other academic institutions. The Center's educational outreach program includes summer internships for talented high school students in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Institute for the Advancement of Youth. The Center supports 7 senior investigators, 3 post-doctoral research associates, 5 graduate students, 1 administrative assistant, and 4 undergraduate students. The MRSEC is directed by Professor C-L. Chien. %%% The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins University supports interdisciplinary research on materials whose structure is modulated on a nanometer scale. As a result of the microstructure, these materials display unique physical properties which have potential technological applications. The research combines experimental and theoretical studies to develop an understanding of the interrelationship between the properties of nanostructures and the degrees of freedom available for their design and fabrication. Materials to be studied include multilayers of functionally dissimilar materials, e.g. metals and insulators, arrays of nanowires, and ultrafine granular materials. The MR SEC also supports shared experimental facilities for materials research, exploratory research through seed funding, and collaborations with industry and other academic institutions. The Center's educational outreach program includes summer internships for talented high school students in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Institute for the Advancement of Youth. The MRSEC is directed by Professor C-L. Chien.

IRG3 focuses on the interactions of biological systems with functional organic materials on the biologically important 1-100 nm scale. This length scale is commensurate with a range of biological assemblies (lipid assemblies, proteins, viruses, and cells) that lie between the well-studied molecular and micrometer limits, and therefore offers exciting prospects for discovery. IRG3 combines hierarchical multi-scale theory for polymeric, amphiphilic and liquid-crystalline systems with the synthesis of functional polymers and development of novel nanofabrication processes to understand and exploit interactions between nanoscale surface topography, patterned surface chemical functionality and biological assemblies. The research is fundamental and will impact a range of biotechnologies, including materials for rapid identification of viral pathogens (e.g. for biosensors), for profiling of the protein composition of cells or for control of cell behavior in vitro.

Leaders: Nicholas Abbott, Paul Bertics

Addresses multifunctional, reconfigurable networks of nanoparticles, polymers, and organic molecules that respond to a range of external stimuli. Fundamental principles are elucidated for understanding and controlling the assembly and reconfiguration of nanoparticles connected by molecular linkers, with theoretical and experimental efforts combining to create unique optical, chemical, or biological materials functionality. Research advances in this IRG are expected to enable responsive, reconfigurable materials based on integration of nanoparticles and macromolecules for applications in electronics, energy storage, photonics, and biology.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins University supports an interdisciplinary research program on nanostructures with enhancd magneto-electronic properties. The research is carried out in one interdisciplinary research group, with appropriate seed projects. Within the IRG one thrust is on the magneto-transport properties of high quality bismuth thin films; another thrust is on ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic multilayers, and another on nanostructured half-metallic chromium oxide films; two other thrusts highlight electrodeposited one-dimensional structures (nanowires) and patterned structures such as arrays of epitaxially grown interacting chromium oxide dots. The center is engaged in a variety of educational activities, including Research Experiences for undergraduates and Research Experiences for Teachers, an undergraduate fellow program and a high school teacher internship program. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities, which are accessible to outside users and also supports interactive efforts within industry and other sectors.

The University of Chicago MRSEC has established a highly successful, multidisciplinary approach to issues of technological importance at the forefront of materials research. The overarching goal, common to all of our Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs), is to produce the design principles for the next generation of materials. Each of the four IRGs addresses a fundamental issue applicable to a broad class of materials. Our programs attack some of the deepest challenges of materials research. Common themes include investigating materials formed far from equilibrium, exploring new paradigms for materials fabrication and response especially at the micro- and nano- scale, and exploiting feedback between structure and dynamics. These themes, reappearing in each IRG, deal with important basic problems exploring design principles that are far from conventional and whose prospects are far from certain.

The Brandeis Bioinspired Soft Materials Center seeks to create new materials that are constructed from only a few simplified components, yet capture the remarkable functionalities found in living organisms. In addition to opening new directions in materials  science  research,  these  efforts  will elucidate the minimal requirements for the emergence of biological function. This challenging endeavor draws upon our expertise in diverse and complementary experimental and theoretical techniques that span the physical and life sciences. Brandeis offers an ideal environment for such an interdisciplinary undertaking. Its small size engenders a highly collaborative environment. Its innovative graduate program trains students who work and thrive at the interface of physical and life sciences. Its life science faculty have pioneered biochemical studies of molecular motors and cytoskeletal machinery, its chemists have synthesized biocompatible self-assembling filaments, and its physicists have made important contributions toward understanding soft materials such as liquid  crystals,  gels  and  colloids. Researchers in the BioInspired Soft Materials Center combine elemental building blocks, such as motor proteins, DNA origami and filamentous virus, to understand the emergence of biomimetic functionalities that are highly sought-after in materials science and to synergistically engineer life-like materials.

The goal of IRG1 (Membrane based Materials) is to uncover the  design principles that cells  use  to  shape and reconfigure membranes,  and  to apply  these principles in order to engineer heterogeneous and reconfigurable membrane materials. To accomplish this we will exploit the analogy  between  nanometer-sized  lipid  bilayers  and micron-sized  colloidal monolayers assembled from filamentous viruses or DNA origami rods.

The goal of IRG2 (Biological Active Materials) is to create active analogs of quintessential soft matter systems including gels, liquids crystals, emulsions and vesicles using elemental force generators, such as motor proteins and monomer treadmilling. We will experimentally and theoretically characterize the emergent properties of such materials, including their ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical work, perform locomotion, and undergo dynamical reconfiguration.

The theme of the Northwestern University CEMRI* is Multifunctional Nanoscale Materials Structures. The main emphasis of the Center is to train visionary and globally competitive U.S. materials researchers to significantly impact the U.S. economy and solve global challenges, to innovate in an atmosphere of cooperation and healthy competition among national and international partners in both public and private sectors, and to integrate efforts in research, education, knowledge/technology transfer and networking. The Center manages and maintains shared experimental facilities accessed by both Northwestern and external researchers, fosters interactions with National Labs (especially with nearby Argonne National Lab), other universities, industry (including both MRSEC-initiated start-up companies and large corporations) as well as other institutions (including The Art Institute of Chicago), and develops innovative educational programs including the science-themed performances hosted by the MRSEC-sponsored Educational Transdisciplinary Outreach Program in the Arts (ETOPiA).

The research goals of the center consist of understanding the fundamental principles and behaviors of complex nanomaterials systems, transferring results into the development of new functional devices and systems leading to new technologies and industries, and initiating close cooperation among national and international partners to improve research capabilities and infrastructure. Researchers are organized into Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) investigating: "Controlling Fluxes of Charge and Energy at Hybrid Interfaces", "Fundamentals of Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors" and "Plasmonically-Encoded Materials for Amplified Sensing and Information Manipulation", as well as seed programs. The research strategy is to investigate novel phenomena through the interactions of charges, photons, plasmons and excitons in nanostructured materials, including discrete and collective effects in model materials using theory, simulation, modeling and detailed measurements. An understanding of the underlying science will provide a basis for the design of new and extended classes of functional nanostructures for potential applications in sensing and communication, energy and environmental uses.

The educational goals of the Center are to develop and disseminate instructional materials for pre-college Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) classrooms based on Center research, to offer opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to develop skills in innovation and entrepreneurship, to work with international partners and programs to equip U.S. students with global leadership capabilities and a global research perspective, and to provide national leadership in vertically-integrated STEM learning and teaching from middle-school to graduate school in order to improve quality and reduce the cost of education. The Center has a long history of developing Materials World Modules for implementation into STEM classrooms and providing summer research training for teachers and undergraduates in Research Experience for Teachers (RET) and Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. Partnerships with the International Materials Institute at Northwestern and with industrial partners are providing new opportunities to develop international programs and opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship-based research activities.

*a NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Carnegie Mellon University supports research on the study of crystalline interfaces at a mesoscopic scale. The effort concentrates on grain and subgrain boundaries in two-component polycrystals and is complimentary to investigations at the atomic and continuum scales. The seminal concept of the project is that a bridge can be constructed between the character of grain boundaries and certain of their intrinsic properties. This bridge will encompass the very large space of all physically distinctive grain boundaries, known as fundamental zone. The mission is to construct mappings using automated microscopy which link the intrinsic materials properties of individual grain boundaries to their character and chemistry over the entire fundamental zone. The mesoscale of interest lies approximately between 100 microns and 100 nanometer. The anticipated progress is likely to accelerate the world-wide effort towards a unified structure-properties theory, linking structure-properties relations from the atomic scale upwards to the continuum scale. The MRSEC supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It fosters research participation by undergraduates and pre-college students, and is developing strong industrial relationships. The Center currently supports 8 senior investigators, 3 postdoctoral research associates, 8 graduate students, and 4 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor Brent L. Adams. %%% The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Carnegie Mellon University supports research on the study of crystalline interfaces at a microscopic scale, also known as mesoscale. The seminal concept of the project is that a bridge can be constructed between the character of grain boundaries and certain of their intrinsic properties. The anticipated progress is likely to accelerate the world-wide effort towards a unified structure-properties theory, linking structure-properties relations from the atomic scale upwards to the continuum scale. The MRSEC supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It fosters research participation by undergraduates and pre-college students, and is developing strong industrial relationships.