The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Chicago supports a broad research program carried out in three interdisciplinary research groups and exploratory seed projects, as well as a wide range of educational activities, including the K-8 Partners in Science Program with outreach to Chicago area public schools. The Center is raising public awareness of materials science through a new partnership with Chicago's Museum of Science and Technology. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities, which are accessible to outside users and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors.
One of the three interdisciplinary research groups is exploring the self-assembly of ultra-small structures. The materials of interest include polymer films, colloids, and semiconductor nanocrystals. A second group is carrying out experimental and theoretical studies of certain physical properties of solids with broad implications for an improved understanding of the condensed state of matter. The properties include quantum phases, transitions, and fluctuations of complex systems. The materials of interest include disordered ferromagnets, organic conductors and conducting polymers. The third group studies macroscopic motion in granular materials and liquids. Potential applications of these problems can be found in the construction of highways and dams, movement of grain and coal, design of ink jet printers, turbulence, avalanches, and bubble formation. A seed initiative on molecular overlayers examines fundamental issues in the surface properties of molecular overlayers, including self-assembled monolayers. A second seed initiative on bio-interfacial science is concerned with understanding the properties of interfaces in biological environments. This knowledge is important for the design of implants, cell culture and preservation, and the construction of sensors that combine biological and engineered components.
Participants in the Center currently include 26 senior investigators, 7 postdoctoral associates, 20 graduate students, 14 undergraduates, and 9 technicians and other support personnel. Professor Steven J. Sibener directs the MRSEC.
