Micron-sized non-volatile magnetoresistance devices are being pursued using ferroelectric/magnetostrictive multilayers.

Metamaterials are engineered structures with novel electromagnetic properties such as artificial magnetism, negative refraction, and cloaking. Thus far, most metamaterial designs have been limited to fixed, narrow frequency range of operation determined by the size of the constitutive resonator elements. Work within the NSF funded Center for the

Liquid crystals that realign in response to DNA can reveal subtle sequence alterations, even a single base mutation. Center investigator Dan Schwartz.and doctoral student Andrew Price showed that nematic liquid crystals, which naturally align themselves perpendicular to the surface of a surfactant-coated glass slide, tilt slightly following the addition of short lengths of single stranded DNA.

Nature has evolved numerous mechanisms for the self-healing of damaged tissues and structures.  MIT MRSEC researchers have shown first successes in establishing a new class of smart polymer materials with controllable network junctions by combining Diels-Alder reactions with bio-inspired metal coordinate crosslinking to generate multi-functional polymers capable of

In conjunction with the NOVA TV science program, the Penn MRSEC collaborated with Penn and Drexel University Materials Science Departments to arrange the first Philly Materials Science & Engineering Day on Feb. 5, 2011, which introduced the general public in the Philadelphia region to the world of materials. An extensive program was arranged that included demonstrations from many LRSM graduate research

MRSEC scientists and collaborators have shown [1] that the localized buckling of a compressed thin sheet, important for molecular interfaces, [2] has the same mathematical origin as the localization of kinetic energy in a line of swinging pendulums.  It is a form of soliton. 

One of the primary ways that materials fail in operation is by the formation and propagation of cracks during loading, often leading to sudden, catastrophic events. The ability of a material to withstand fracture is described as its toughness.  Over the years, researchers have developed a variety of way to enhance material toughness, thereby improving the ability of materials to withstand applied loads, but often at the cost of reducing overall strength.

Scientists researching electronic devices that promise to extend current technologies beyond the ITRS roadmap – the industry generated timeline for the development of silicon-based electronics – have for some time focused on the potential for the field of “spintronics” to deliver fast, low-power computing. However, progress in the area of computer

MRSEC researchers have developed the materials necessary to embed GHz speed electronic photodetectors into micron diameter channels in optical fibers.