Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., announces that its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center has received a six-year, $15.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The center, which integrates educational activities with a scientific research program, is one of eight Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers in the nation to be funded by the NSF this year.
The Northwestern University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NU-MRSEC) advances world-class materials research, education, and outreach through active interdisciplinary collaborations within the center and with external partners in academia, industry, national laboratories and museums, both domestically and abroad.
“Northwestern has cultivated a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty across different departments for nearly six decades,” said center director Mark C. Hersam, the Walter P. Murphy Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering.
“Reflecting this tradition, the proposed NU-MRSEC draws faculty from seven departments across two schools at Northwestern, along with key partnerships with DePaul University, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University,” Prof. Hersam said.
The intellectual merit of the NU-MRSEC resides primarily within its two complementary interdisciplinary research groups. One explores reconfigurable nanoelectronic materials systems with potential applications in neuromorphic, or brain-like, computing. The other aims to discover new inorganic materials with unconventional combinations of properties — such as high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity — by integrating synthesis, characterization and computational methods. The NU-MRSEC will also support seed projects to take advantage of emerging research opportunities.
