Research Areas
Materials Research is Cross-disciplinary
Energy and Environment
This research area focuses on fundamentally understanding materials used for energy generation and storage technologies from heat engines to solar cells, as well as on materials for water purification. Studies include developing novel materials with advanced heat transport or heat resistance, understanding how these materials work at the atomic scale, and improving them.
Health and Medicine
This concentration designs, synthesizes, and fabricates novel functional materials and explores their biomedical and biological applications. Research crosses many disciplines including chemistry, physics, chemical, biological, mechanical and electronic engineering, pharmaceutical and life sciences, and computational sciences.
Mechanical Properties and Materials for Extreme Conditions
Structural applications, from airplane fuselage to car chassis to computer and cell phone cases, often call for materials that are stronger and lighter, and can maintain high performance in harsh environments. Research in this area combines experiments, numerical simulations, and modeling to improve existing materials and to develop new materials that will meet the requirements of these demanding applications.
Nanoscale Science and Technology
Nanoscale science and technology is a cross-cutting area of research that seeks advances in basic understanding of the synthesis, processing, and properties of nanoscale materials and the development of new nanoscale materials for energy, medicine, information technology, transportation, and the environment. Research utilizes multiple areas of expertise: electron microscopy and diffraction, synthesis of low-dimensional semiconductors, assembly of nanostructures into hierarchical structures, excited-state electronic structure, and transport of electronic, magnetic, and vibrational excitations at the nanoscale.