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The Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) performs innovative multidisciplinary science focused on discovery and engineering of emergent materials to enable novel phenomena and phases.

The primary mission of he MRSEC at UCI is to establish foundational knowledge in materials science and engineering of new classes of materials offering unique and broad functionality via an interplay among design, simulation, synthesis, and advanced characterization.

This MRSEC brings together researchers from across science and engineering to create materials with new atomic-scale structures and functionalities, and to develop approaches for actively controlling and reconfiguring materials in real time.

NU-MRSEC advances world-class materials research, education, and outreach via active interdisciplinary collaborations within the Center and with external partners in academia, industry, national laboratories, and museums, both domestically and abroad.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of
Chicago focuses on two overarching, intertwined issues: the manipulation of structural properties connected through hierarchies of length scales, and the feedback between structural properties and dynamical response. The understanding and control of these issues provides a foundation for the design of the next generation of functional materials, from cooperative spin systems, self-assembled nanostructures, or microfluidic systems, to bio-inorganic hybrid materials. The Center's research is organized into four interdisciplinary groups (IRGs). IRG1 investigates the Dynamical Formation of Structures in Liquids and Elastic Solids that emerge as one follows coarse, macroscopic features to finer and finer length scales, including phenomena such as droplet break-up, crumpling and mesoscale flows. IRG2 aims to design and implement Hierarchically Assembled Molecular Materials composed of molecular assemblies on surfaces that express novel function. IRG3, Jamming and Slow Relaxation in Materials Far from Equilibrium, develops a unifying framework to understand the complex behavior of large classes of materials, from spin systems to supercooled liquids to granular matter, that become stuck in states far from equilibrium and defy description by conventional statistical mechanics. IRG4, Bio-Interfacial Science, develops new routes for designing and controlling the interface between biological entities and man-made materials, including development of biochips for quantitative characterization of biological activities and the assembly of protein units for novel nanostructured materials.

The Center's research benefits from extensive shared experimental facilities that provide research support and training of students. The MRSEC operates a comprehensive program that integrates research with education that includes a seminar and workshop series, a shared student and postdoctoral associates program, a long-term visitors program, as well as outreach programs such as summer research experiences for undergraduates and links with the K-12 level that emphasize attracting and keeping women and minorities in science. The Center also has an industrial partnership program that includes research collaborations, joint workshops, and joint student training activities, as well as a close collaboration with researchers at Argonne National Laboratory.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Minnesota supports a broad research program foucsed on hybrid materials. The Center is organized through two interdisciplinary research groups, and pursues exploratory research in several seed projects. The MRSEC supports an educational outreach program to the Native American community in a four-state area surrounding the University of Minnesota. The Center maintains shared experimental facilities which are accessible to outside users, and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors. One of the two interdisciplinary research groups is investigating the microstructure of macromolecular materials. This group seeks to employ block co-polymers as key ingredients, but rarely as sole ingredients, in order to control the structure and function of new hybrid polymers. The goal of the second group is to develop a fundamental understanding of the materials science of artificial tissues and to develop materials for use in biosystems. An important aspect of this work is to define systematically the relationships betweeen composition, structure, and mechanical properties of arificial tissues.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of California - San Diego undertakes research related to the performance of magnetic recording materials. The research program is organized through a single interdisciplinary research group. The research group is focused on the experimental and theoretical analysis of hysteresis, dynamics, and spin transport in magnetic particles and thin films. The goal of the group is to provide a quantitative microscopic description of the phenomena underlying the observed macroscopic hysteresis properties of these magnetic systems. The MRSEC is closely associated with the Center for Magnetic Recording Materials (CMRM), which is fully funded by industry. In addition the MRSEC will support a broad range of interactions and collaboration with industry and an expanded range of educational outreach programs. The MRSEC currently supports 11 senior investigators, 4 postdoctoral research associates, 2 technical staff members, 11 graduate students, and 5 undergraduates. The MRSEC is co-directed by Professors Ami E. Berkowitz and Sheldon Schultz.

The Center for Materials Innovation establishes a transformative campus-wide eco-system to accelerate the design, discovery, and deployment of novel materials critical for the Industries of Tomorrow.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Princeton University supports interactive research in three major groups addressing the synthesis and understanding of mesoscopically structured complex materials with the ultimate goal of rational design of materials for industrial applications. The group which is focused on electronic transport in non- Fermi liquid materials combines expertise in theoretical physics and synthesis of electronic materials with a new high magnetic field facility to explore the properties of novel materials with restricted geometries and low- dimensionality. The study of these materials is unified by common theoretical concepts and the prediction of properties not observed in standard materials. The group investigating organic thin films and quantum structures is exploring a new class of engineering structures and materials based on the controlled growth, at the monolayer level, of a wide range of semiconducting organic thin films. Investigators in the group concerned with microstructured macromolecular soft materials deal with materials formed from complex fluids. Soft materialq with complex microstructures are formed by the spontaneous evolution of structure in the liquid state; they are self-assembling. This group seeks a unified understanding of the materials science of such materials. The MRSEC also supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It provides seed funding for exploratory research. The center participates in an undergraduate materials science certification program and in a summer research program for undergraduates. The MRSEC is associated with an educational outreach program with emphasis on attracting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in materials science and co-sponsors a materials science and engineering training program for K-12 teachers. The MRSEC administers an industrial outreach and visitors program. The MRSEC currently supports 20 faculty, 6 postdoctoral research associates, 1 technical staff member, 22 graduate students, and a significant number of undergraduates through their summer research program. The Princeton MRSEC is directed by Professor Peter M. Eisenberger.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) is a partnership between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Arkansas which supports an interdisciplinary research program on semiconductor nanostructure science and applications. The research is carried out in two interdisciplinary research groups, with appropriate seed projects. Within IRG 1 the focus is on the growth and characterization of semiconductor nanostructures. The IRG also includes study of the novel electronic and optical properties and potential device applications. IRG 2 has its focus on interfaces with particular emphasis on the study of narrow gap semiconductors such as based on InAs and InSb. The center is engaged in a number of educational activities from the graduate to the middle school level, including support for workshops for middle and high school science teachers, and support for production of science videos. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry, National Laboratories and other sectors.

Participants in the Center include 17 senior investigators, 6 postdoctoral associates, 15 graduate students, 3 undergraduates, and 1technician. Professor Matthew B. Johnson directs the MRSEC.