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The Materials Research Science and Egineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Virginia supports an interdisciplinary research program on nanoscopic materials design. The group research explores the guided growth of epitaxial semiconductor sufaces, combining short-range self-assembly phenomena with long-range pattern definition techniques. Techniques utilized include focused ion beam surface modification, nano-scaled electrochemical etching and strain field engineering. This will lead to the capability for definition of nanoscale semiconductor surface structures of arbitrary length scales and complexity, with applications to quantum device structures, biological templating and nanoscale electrochemical processes. The Center's research is aided by extensive collaborations with other universities, government and industrial laboratories. The Center also provides seed support for emerging research opportunities in related areas.

The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors. Education outreach efforts focus on developing collaborations with two- and four-year colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and include a joint curriculum development effort with Longwood College, Northern Virginia Community College and Hampton University.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the California Institute of Technology supports an interdisciplinary research program on advanced materials, as well as a wide range of educational activities, including outreach to minority communities in California both at the pre-college and college level, and development of pre-college instructional materials. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors.

The Center's research is organized into two interdisciplinary research groups (IRG). IRG 1, Biological Synthesis and Assembly of Macromolecular Materials, uses powerful biological approaches for the synthesis and assembly of polymeric materials. IRG 2, Bulk Metallic Glasses and Composites, explores new strategies to produce bulk metallic glasses and their composites with enhanced mechanical properties. The Center also provides seed support for emerging research opportunities in photonic and ferroelectric materials.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) is an interdisciplinary research and educational enterprise within Carnegie Mellon University dedicated the understanding, control and optimization of grain boundary dominated materials properties. The collaboration of researchers with complementary backgrounds, skills, and knowledge is critical to meeting the Center's technical objectives.

Research focus

Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft, automobiles, and devices such as computers are polycrystalline. In other words, they are made up of many microscopic crystals held together by grain boundaries. It is widely recognized that the types of grain boundaries in a material and the manner in which they are connected affect a wide range of properties and, ultimately, a material's performance and lifetime. In most cases, however, our ability to predict and control the materials properties that are governed by the grain boundaries is severely limited by our incomplete knowledge of the network structure and the behavior of individual interfaces. The CMU MRSEC's goals are to understand the origins of the quantifiable characteristics of polycrystals that arise during processing, to develop strategies for influencing these characteristics in predictable ways, and to define microstructural metrics that can be directly related to macroscopic properties and performance. The Center's tools and findings will have applications in a range of practical materials processing applications and, to insure rapid implementation, we work collaboratively with government, industry, and international laboratories.

The University of Oklahoma / University of Arkansas Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), titled the Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures (CSPIN), supports innovative research and education in controlled growth of semiconductor and ferroelectric arrays, and narrow band gap semiconductor heterostructures. Potential applications include inexpensive high density, low power, non-volatile memory, negative refractive index materials, and improved magnetic read-head technology. The center will develop coordinated activities in graduate and undergraduate education, advance inquiry based learning for the improved understanding of K-12 science, and partner with regional museums to produce exhibits for the general public.

The MRSEC consists of two Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs); IRG-1 Collective Properties of Nanostructure Arrays - control over semiconductor and ferroelectric materials growth will yield systems that give new insight into the collective interactions between individual quantum dots, wires and rings, and will provide the basis for new optical and electronic materials. IRG-2 Mesoscopic Narrow Gap Systems - explores the unique properties of narrow bandgap semiconductor materials to address nanoscale electronic devices that exploit quantum mechanical effects for higher speed operation, denser memory with increased functionality.

The Brandeis Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) seeks to create new materials that are constructed from only a few simplified components, yet capture the remarkable functionalities found in living organisms.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Maryland addresses fundamental problems connected with the dynamics of ferroelectrics and of surface nanostructures, and with the properties of highly spin polarized magnetic oxides. The MRSEC supports an effective pre-college education outreach effort that includes summer science programs for middle school girls and hands-on math and science student programs. The Center has intensive activities for knowledge transfer to a large number of industrial and federal laboratories. The MRSEC also supports promising new projects through seed funding, and develops and maintains shared experimental facilities.

Research in the proposed Center is organized into three Interdisciplinary research Groups (IRG). IRG 1, Polarization Dynamics in Ferroelectric Thin Films, addresses key materials issues that will allow to control and optimize the time-dependent behavior of thin film ferroelectrics, and that currently limit their applicability to computer memories, sensors and actuators. IRG 2, Surface Nanostructures: From Fluctuations to Driven Systems, builds upon powerful experimental and theoretical tools developed by this group of investigators to predict the surface structural evolution of films under various processing conditions, including chemical vapor deposition growth and electromigration. IRG 3, Metal Oxides with High Spin Polarization, focuses on issues limiting development of metallic oxides with high spin polarization that can be utilized in magnetic devices, including 'spintronics' and magnetic sensors.

The Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) discovers and develops novel atomically engineered materials and processes across a wide spectrum such as amorphous metals or artificially structured crystalline oxide interfaces. This research also serves as an effective vehicle for student recruitment, retention, and education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). CRISP includes two interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs): 1) the Atomic Scale Design, Control and Characterization of Oxide Structures IRG focuses on understanding and engineering the novel chemical, electronic, and magneto-electric phenomena that arise at atomically abrupt complex oxide interfaces; and 2) the Multi-Scale Surface Engineering with Metallic Glasses IRG addresses the grand challenge of how to control surface properties through topographical structuring at multiple length scales (examples include tailoring biocompatibility, reactivity, friction, adhesion, and wetting to efficiently functionalize surfaces for a wide range of new applications and devices). Each IRG relies on (i) unique, world-class expertise at Yale, Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), and industrial, national laboratory, and international partners; (ii) demonstrated, seamless multi-disciplinary collaborations; and (iii) extensive shared facilities to address grand challenges in materials research through multi-faceted efforts that include physical and biological sciences, engineering, and interplay between state-of-the-art theory and experiment. The research is closely integrated with education and outreach (EO) efforts through partnerships among a major research university (Yale), the largest educator of teachers in the state (SCSU), and the economically distressed, under-represented minority (URM)-dominated New Haven Public School System (NHPS). These partnerships provide model programs for recruitment, retention, and broadened participation in STEM careers that may be replicated nationwide. Further, CRISP faculty members are committed to enhancing cultural, gender, ethnic and racial diversity among STEM students and faculty, and more broadly among science students, teachers, and researchers nationally.

For education and Human Resource Development, CRISP uses the interdisciplinary, innovative aspects of its research to enhance STEM recruitment, retention, education, and to broaden participation by under-represented groups. The focus is on two successful signature initiatives that are evolving based on continued quantitative outcome assessments. The Materials Research Center Initiative for STEM Education (MISE) enhances STEM recruitment and retention through professional development of teachers that enhances their teaching abilities. This efficiently impacts the largest number of students, resulting in a substantial multiplying effect. The Materials Research Center Initiative for Multidisciplinary Education and Research (MIMER) provides interdisciplinary team-based research and education opportunities to the entire spectrum of STEM professionals and students. Teams work on integrated IRG research projects that form bridges to multidisciplinary courses and training projects. The integration of these EO efforts with graduate research uniquely prepares CRISP participants to succeed in, and ultimately lead, multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural efforts that are increasingly important to solve complex, large- scale problems. CRISP also prepares postdoctoral researchers for independent research careers by giving them latitude in defining research thrusts while providing them professional development training ranging from proposal writing to research management.

CRISP partnerships with national laboratories, industry, educational institutions, and state and local government agencies help CRISP realize its research and human resource development visions while broadening its impact. Key in-depth collaborations continue to be developed with Brookhaven and Argonne National Laboratories (BNL and ANL) that enable joint development of new characterization methods. Industrial partners, such as IBM or the PX Group, provide CRISP with a pathway towards commercialization of basic research findings. CRISP’s interactions with international universities are highlighted by Joint Research Centers with Peking University on Microelectronics and Nanotechnology and with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy Methods. Both endeavors involve joint projects and faculty and student exchanges, providing CRISP access to unique facilities at the partner institutions. CRISP’s partnership with the New Haven Public School System provides detailed teacher evaluation data for a predominantly minority- serving school system that enables CRISP to direct its professional development (PD) towards teachers with the greatest needs, providing them with individualized PD plans. CRISP also works with the Connecticut Office of Workforce Competitiveness to develop new EO programs that span K-12, community colleges, and PD.

The MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) is devoted to the design, creation, and fundamental understanding of materials that are capable of enhancing the human experience. CMSE has a special mission: to foster collaborative, interdisciplinary research and education in the science and engineering of materials that will address the future needs of society. CMSE promotes collaboration among MIT faculty and between MIT faculty and researchers of other universities, industry, and government laboratories.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Southern Mississippi supports an interdisciplinary research program in the area of polymer coatings and films. The Center also supports a wide range of educational activities, including the establishment of advanced degrees in polymer education and a new course leading to an advanced degree in Distance Leaming. The Center is entitled the Response-Driven Polymeric Films Center. The Center supports well maintained and accessible shared experimental facilities and interacts with industry and other sectors at local, regional, national and international levels.

The Center's research is organized into two interdisciplinary research groups (IRGS).
IRG 1, Design and Synthesis ofresponse -Driven Poymers, focuses on the the design and synthesis of molecular processes in biomaterials, liquid crystals, and environmentally fismart" molecules. IRG 2, Response-Driven Film Formation, conducts molecular level investigations of films and coatings that exhibit response-driven properties. Potential application of the Center's research are in diveres areas such as water treatment, controlled drug release, and formulation of water-based coatings.. In addition, seed support is provided for emerging research opportunities which are within the general scope of the Center.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces at the University of Wisconsin, Madison supports research in three interdisciplinary groups focusing on film growth by chemical vapor deposition, grain boundaries and current percolation in high-temperature superconductors, and nanostructured magnetic oxides. The first group investigates the fundamental mechanisms underlying film growth by chemical vapor deposition, with a focus on the growth of Si and Ge and their alloys. The second group focuses on the role that grain boundaries and the electronic structure play in determining the critical current density of polycrystalline high temperature superconductors. The third group addresses the fabrication, characterization, and understanding of the properties of perovskite-like magnetic oxides with potential device applications. The MRSEC supports shared experimental facilities for materials research, exploratory research through seed funding, and collaborations with industry and with other universities. Educational outreach programs include development of instructional materials for high school science teachers and outreach visits to local schools. The Center supports 15 senior investigators, 8 postdoctoral research associates, 16 graduate students, 7 technicians or other professionals, and 10 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor T. F. Kuech. %%% The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces at the University of Wisconsin, Madison supports research in three interdisciplinary groups. The first group investigates the fundamental mechanisms underlying the growth of semiconductor films with focus on the growth of the technologically important materials silicon and germanium and their alloys. The second group focuses on the role structural defects play in determining the critical current density of polycrystalline high-temp erature superconductors. The third group addresses the fabrication, characterization, and understanding of the properties of magnetic oxides with potential device applications. The MRSEC supports shared experimental facilities for materials research, exploratory research through seed funding, and collaborations with industry and with other universities. Educational outreach programs include development of instructional materials for high school science teachers and outreach visits to local schools. The Center supports 15 senior investigators, 8 postdoctoral research associates, 16 graduate students, 7 technicians or other professionals, and 10 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor T. F. Kuech.