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Highlights

May 3, 2007
Columbia University in the City of New York

Expansion of the McNair CITIES Program

Expansion of the McNair CITIES ProgramThe MRSEC developed a new program to help enhance the curriculum of NYC high schools called the Ron McNair Curriculum Integration To Interactively Engage Students (CITIES) Program. The goals of the program are to increase student engagement and to motivate students to enjoy learning and to educate the public. In 2005, the MRSEC brought the program to a Enterprise, Business, and Technology (EBT) High School in Brooklyn.
May 2, 2007
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Perfectly Hydrophobic Surfaces

"Perfectly hydrophobic" surfaces have been developed by McCarthy and are being applied to low friction motion and lubrication McCarthy and Crosby. Shown in the image is an "18-wheel vehicle", prepared by treating a dimethyldichlorosilane-treated quartz plate with UV/ozone through a mask containing 18 hexagonally arrayed 1 mm diameter holes spaced by 4 mm on center.
May 2, 2007
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Polymer Nanocomposite Mechanical Properties

Composites of polymers and inorganic nanoparticles offer tremendous promise for the optimization of mechanical properties. Although many claims of improved properties and balanced optimization can be found in the scientific literature over the past several decades, very little fundamental insight has been provided for the true "nano" effect on mechanical properties.
Apr 24, 2007
University of Chicago

Myelin Figures-- the Instability of Soap

Myelin figures are long thin cylindrical structures that grow when water is added to the concentrated lamellar phase of certain surfactants such as soap. The Sidney Nagel and Tom Witten groups at the University of Chicago developed a method to produce isolated myelin figures, based on previous investigations of ring stain formation pioneered at the MRSEC. This allowed them to study their growth and stability in detail.
Apr 24, 2007
University of Chicago

Spin-Blockade in a Colloidal CdSe Quantum Dot Solid

A University of Chicago MRSEC team led by Philippe Guyot-Sionnest and Woowon Kang have been investigating the transport properties of colloidal quantum dots under magnetic field [1].
Apr 13, 2007
Carnegie Mellon University

Changing Complexions of Grain Boundaries

Martin P. Harmer and Shen J. Dillon, Lehigh University Supported by the MRSEC Program of the NSF under award number DMR-0520425
Apr 13, 2007
Carnegie Mellon University

Microstructural Statistics in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electrodes

G. Rohrer and P. Salvador/CMU MRSEC, Carnegie Mellon University, NSF DMR- 0520425 L. Wilson and C. Johnson/National Energy Technology Laboratory