How can we wrap a 3d object with a sheet of paper without folds? Wrapping implies the ability to stretch as much as bend.  Using concepts from fractal geometry, we have designed and realized a new class of materials with unprecedented control of stretchability and bendability to conformally wrap any shape or expand to nearly any predetermined shapes.   Fractal cut sheets for controlled expansion

Terminator 2 is widely remembered for its metal shape-shifting villain. Impervious to bullets, explosives, and fire, theT-1000 robot was capable of changing shape at will. Researchers at the North Carolina State University have taken a step towards making science fiction a reality by developing a technique for controlling the surface tension of liquid metals using very low voltages. This technology paves the way for shape-reconfigurable metal components in electronic, electromagnetic, and microfluidic devices.

Monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a 3-atom thick material with a direct band gap, making it of interest for fundamental science as well as applications in optoelectronics and chemical sensing. Our innovation is a scalable method for “seeded growth” of high quality monolayer MoS2 at controlled locations, which is an important advance towards useful applications of the material.

Existing high-resolution neural recording devices cannot achieve simultaneous scalability on both spatial and temporal levels due to a trade-off between sensor density and mechanical flexibility. A team led by Liu, Bertoldi, Kozinsky, and Suo has introduced a 3D stacking implantable electronic platform, based on perfluorinated dielectric elastomers and tissue-level soft multilayer electrodes, that enables spatiotemporally scalable single-cell neural electrophysiology.

Researchers at OSU's Center for Emergent Materials have discovered that in semiconductors, specifically Indium Antimonide (InSb), heat can be controlled magnetically, given a sufficiently large magnetic field.

In collaboration with the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, HerStory is an outreach event that encourages young girls, particularly underrepresented minorities, to pursue science in academia and beyond. The event agenda includes a massive scavenger hunt at the museum that featured exhibits of famous female scientists in each wing of the museum. Volunteers and young women from across the Chicagoland area participated in the event.

Nearly 300 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students attended masterclasses on the visual communication of materials science and engineering between October 2013 and January 2014. At programs offered in partnership with the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Felice Frankel, research specialist at the MIT MRSEC, presented 90-minute talks addressing common errors students and faculty make in the graphics and images used in their presentations and publications.

On May 20, 2015, over 250 middle and high school students participated in the inaugural MRSEC Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Student Expo.