Home

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering partnered with SEMI Midwest Chapter to host a Professional Development Seminar featuring industry experts from across the semiconductor industry. An "Ask Me Anything" panel emphasized the importance of soft skills like communication and teamwork, encouraged students to embrace curiosity and ask questions, and highlighted the growing career opportunities in semiconductors—with nearly 115,000 new U.S. jobs expected by 2030. 

Cunjiang Yu, who is affiliated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, developed "rubbery CMOS"—fully stretchable electronic circuits that match the functionality of conventional rigid electronics but can stretch up to 50 percent without losing performance. Unlike previous hybrid approaches, these circuits use entirely elastic materials throughout, achieving true complementary behavior with both p-type and n-type transistors for the first time in rubber electronics. 

The Grainger College of Engineering has launched the Center for In-Space Manufacturing of Resilient Structures (SpaceMaRS) to advance the manufacturing and assembly of large composite structures directly in orbit. Materials Science and Engineering Professor Nancy Sottos is among eight faculty members collaborating on the center, which builds on DARPA and Air Force-funded research to develop resilient space structures that can withstand harsh orbital conditions including micrometeoroid impacts and atomic oxygen erosion.

Professor Paul V. Braun is collaborating with Nissan to design advanced electrode materials that could improve EV battery range by 25-50%, with Nissan engineer Yasunori Abe working in residence at the Materials Research Laboratory throughout the project. The research focuses on optimizing the structural design of battery electrodes to create better pathways for electrons and ions, addressing a key scalability challenge in next-generation EV batteries.

Assistant Professor Jean-Charles Stinville and researchers have developed a machine learning method called Material Spatial Intelligence that creates detailed spatial maps of metal alloys' microstructures, similar to how fingerprints uniquely identify individuals. This approach captures the complete complexity of an alloy's structure rather than reducing it to simple averages, enabling faster and more accurate prediction of how metals will perform in extreme environments, such as space applications.

Robert Kaman, a fourth-year Ph.D. student, has been named a Jones-Whitford Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation  Scholar for 2025-2026, receiving an $8,000 unrestricted grant to advance his research. He plans to use the award to fund an innovative project demonstrating quantum physics phenomena in classical systems using arrays of permanent magnets on ball bearings, with support from two undergraduate researchers.