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Associate Professor Hua Wang is leading a multidisciplinary team of CCIL researchers in developing an in vivo technology to metabolically tag and target red blood cells, with the potential to extend drug circulation in the body from hours to weeks and enable long-lasting biomedical imaging with a single dose of contrast agent. Funded by an NIH R01 award, this research holds broad implications for cancer treatment—including improved anti-cancer drug delivery with reduced dosing frequency—as well as advances in MRI and fluorescence imaging for studying vascular abnormalities in tumors.

Professors Nancy Sottos and Ioannis Chasiotis are engineering polymers that can protect themselves from the harsh conditions of low-earth orbit, with several formulations already showing dramatic reductions in material erosion during International Space Station trials. Their work could fundamentally change how satellites and spacecraft are built, and may one day enable the direct manufacturing of structural components in space.

Professor Pinshane Huang received a prestigious award from the Microscopy Society of America in the Burton Medal, Physical Sciences. The honor highlights her distinguished accomplishments in microscopy and microanalysis, including the pioneering of electron microscopy methods to probe 2D materials and heterostructures.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering has announced recipients of its annual alumni awards. Honorees include Elizabeth Opila (Distinguished Merit Award), Cassandra Birrenkott (Young Alum Award) and Zeba Parkar (Loyalty Award). Additionally, alumnae Rose Castanares ('88, B.S.) is receiving the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from The Grainger College of Engineering.

Researchers have created the first artificially generated charged domain wall in a 2D ferroelectric material, by stacking two ultrathin layers of indium selenide crystal with opposing electrical polarizations to produce a highly conductive interface. Led by associate professor Arend van der Zande and graduate student Shahriar Muhammad Nahid, the work opens a new class of ferroelectric material interfaces with promising applications in neuromorphic computing and reconfigurable electronics.

A materials senior design project team partnered with Nucor Steel and Assistant Professor Jean-Charles Stinville to develop an optical analysis tool that quantifies microsegregation in steel samples, replacing subjective visual assessments with precise, statistical measurements. The student-built solution has already been implemented at Nucor and inspired a different senior design collaboration for spring 2026.