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The theme of the Northwestern University CEMRI* is Multifunctional Nanoscale Materials Structures. The main emphasis of the Center is to train visionary and globally competitive U.S. materials researchers to significantly impact the U.S. economy and solve global challenges, to innovate in an atmosphere of cooperation and healthy competition among national and international partners in both public and private sectors, and to integrate efforts in research, education, knowledge/technology transfer and networking. The Center manages and maintains shared experimental facilities accessed by both Northwestern and external researchers, fosters interactions with National Labs (especially with nearby Argonne National Lab), other universities, industry (including both MRSEC-initiated start-up companies and large corporations) as well as other institutions (including The Art Institute of Chicago), and develops innovative educational programs including the science-themed performances hosted by the MRSEC-sponsored Educational Transdisciplinary Outreach Program in the Arts (ETOPiA).

The research goals of the center consist of understanding the fundamental principles and behaviors of complex nanomaterials systems, transferring results into the development of new functional devices and systems leading to new technologies and industries, and initiating close cooperation among national and international partners to improve research capabilities and infrastructure. Researchers are organized into Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) investigating: "Controlling Fluxes of Charge and Energy at Hybrid Interfaces", "Fundamentals of Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors" and "Plasmonically-Encoded Materials for Amplified Sensing and Information Manipulation", as well as seed programs. The research strategy is to investigate novel phenomena through the interactions of charges, photons, plasmons and excitons in nanostructured materials, including discrete and collective effects in model materials using theory, simulation, modeling and detailed measurements. An understanding of the underlying science will provide a basis for the design of new and extended classes of functional nanostructures for potential applications in sensing and communication, energy and environmental uses.

The educational goals of the Center are to develop and disseminate instructional materials for pre-college Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) classrooms based on Center research, to offer opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to develop skills in innovation and entrepreneurship, to work with international partners and programs to equip U.S. students with global leadership capabilities and a global research perspective, and to provide national leadership in vertically-integrated STEM learning and teaching from middle-school to graduate school in order to improve quality and reduce the cost of education. The Center has a long history of developing Materials World Modules for implementation into STEM classrooms and providing summer research training for teachers and undergraduates in Research Experience for Teachers (RET) and Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. Partnerships with the International Materials Institute at Northwestern and with industrial partners are providing new opportunities to develop international programs and opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship-based research activities.

*a NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Carnegie Mellon University supports research on the study of crystalline interfaces at a mesoscopic scale. The effort concentrates on grain and subgrain boundaries in two-component polycrystals and is complimentary to investigations at the atomic and continuum scales. The seminal concept of the project is that a bridge can be constructed between the character of grain boundaries and certain of their intrinsic properties. This bridge will encompass the very large space of all physically distinctive grain boundaries, known as fundamental zone. The mission is to construct mappings using automated microscopy which link the intrinsic materials properties of individual grain boundaries to their character and chemistry over the entire fundamental zone. The mesoscale of interest lies approximately between 100 microns and 100 nanometer. The anticipated progress is likely to accelerate the world-wide effort towards a unified structure-properties theory, linking structure-properties relations from the atomic scale upwards to the continuum scale. The MRSEC supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It fosters research participation by undergraduates and pre-college students, and is developing strong industrial relationships. The Center currently supports 8 senior investigators, 3 postdoctoral research associates, 8 graduate students, and 4 undergraduates. The MRSEC is directed by Professor Brent L. Adams. %%% The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Carnegie Mellon University supports research on the study of crystalline interfaces at a microscopic scale, also known as mesoscale. The seminal concept of the project is that a bridge can be constructed between the character of grain boundaries and certain of their intrinsic properties. The anticipated progress is likely to accelerate the world-wide effort towards a unified structure-properties theory, linking structure-properties relations from the atomic scale upwards to the continuum scale. The MRSEC supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It fosters research participation by undergraduates and pre-college students, and is developing strong industrial relationships.

The Maryland MRSEC carries out nationally recognized fundamental research on surfaces and interfaces of materials with potential impact on the next generation of opto- and nano-electronic devices, and on complex oxides with potential applications in memory, switches, and sensors.

IRG-1 establishes new synthesis-structure-property relationships for materials development based on non-covalent assembly. By utilizing both covalent and directed non-covalent interactions we aim to create new, extraordinarily responsive materials that will lie at the interface of biomaterials and synthetic macromolecules. These multi-functional systems show great promise in areas as diverse as novel catalysts and materials for tissue engineering.

The Colorado Center advances basic liquid crystal and soft materials science and seeks enhanced capabilities for electro-optic, nonlinear optic, chemical and other applications of liquid crystals.  Industrial interaction focuses on fostering of and collaboration with U.S. display and telecom industries.   The Center operates a vigorous education outreach program featuring science shows for the K-12 audience, and "Materials Science from CU", a program of traveling physical science enrichment classes reaching about 8,000 Colorado K-12 students/year.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Carnegie Mellon University supports an interdisciplinary research program on grain boundary networks in polycrystals, called The Mesoscale Interface Mapping Project. The group research seeks to advance the understanding of grain boundary systems by developing and applying experimental and analytical techniques, including automated orientation imaging microscopy, to determine the structure, evolution and properties of grain boundaries in metals and ceramics. The Center also provides seed support for emerging research opportunities.

The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities that provide specialized instrumentation for the preparation and characterization of bulk materials and surfaces. Education and human resources development efforts include curriculum development collaborations with Pittsburgh area high schools, and a Collaborative to Integrate Research and Education with Florida A&M University that includes undergraduate curriculum development and joint research projects. The Center also has extensive research collaborations with industrial and government laboratories, and with other universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Participants in the Center currently include 10 senior investigators, 1 postdoctoral associates, 10 graduate students, 5 undergraduates and 2 technicians and other support personnel. Professor Gregory Rohrer directs the MRSEC.

This multifaceted MRSEC enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine, separations, and plastic electronics to security, renewable energy, and information technology. The UMN MRSEC manages an extensive program in education and career development. Center research activities are integrated with educational programs, providing interdisciplinary training of students and postdocs. The MRSEC is bolstered by a broad complement of over 35 companies that contribute directly to IRG research through intellectual, technological, and financial support. International research collaborations and student exchanges are pursued with leading research labs in Asia and Europe. The UMN MRSEC benefits from an extensive suite of materials synthesis, characterization and computational facilities.

 

This IRG seeks to elucidate the critical issues of control and coherence in both individual and in collective-mode quantum systems, with the goal of manipulating and exploiting quantum coerence in materials over a large range of length scales, from individual quantum centers to macroscopically entangled materials.  The proposed research directly advance applications in quantum sensing, fabricate materials for quantum information as well as create the next generation of characterization tools for traditional materials.

 

IRG-2 builds and studies elastic quantum matter — materials with quantum properties that are ultra-sensitive to elastic strain , offering opportunities from all-mechanical control of magnetization and superconductivity to creation of phonon-magnon circuitry, dynamical Josephson junction arrays, and dynamically controlled catalysts.

Established in 1994, the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) at Princeton University is dedicated to pushing the frontiers of complexity in materials science - bringing together over 30 faculty from six departments in the natural sciences and engineering. Currently funded by the NSF (DMR-1420541), the PCCM supports three Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) and several seed projects. The current IRGs are focused on research in the newly discovered topological phases of electrons and materials, surface and dynamics in confined polymers, and the development of ultra-coherent quantum materials. In addition to forefront materials research, the center sponsors an active educational outreach program involving elementary, middle and high schools, as well as a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and teacher programs. Industrial collaboration is another important aspect of PCCM's research initiatives.