The NSF-sponsored Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center brings together teams of researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to address a critical void in knowledge involving disordered materials, and the emergence of order from disordered materials. The Center integrates the discovery of new knowledge with creation of research-inspired educational materials, innovative programs that broaden participation in STEM fields, industry outreach to promote economic advancement, and professional development opportunities that train the next-generation US workforce.
More information can be found on the Wisconsin MRSEC Brochure (DMR – 1720415).
IRG 1 2017 - 2023 (DMR - 1720415)
Glasses are ubiquitous across materials types and technological applications but their structure - property - processing relationships and underlying fundamental physics remain poorly understood. IRG 1 uses cross-fertilization of ideas and techniques from organic and inorganic glasses to address fundamental problems in glass science through the lens of stability. The IRG integrates theory, simulations, and experiments to expand the range of ultrastable glassy materials and to enable new applications in areas as diverse as hard coatings and quantum information.
IRG 2 2017 - 2023 (DMR - 1720415)
Complex metal oxides are a diverse and highly versatile class of materials that can exhibit scientifically and technologically important behaviors ranging from magnetism to piezoelectricity. New technologies and new fields of applications can be realized by expanding the scope of available ionic compositions and increasing the geometric complexity of nanostructures formed from crystalline oxide materials. IRG 2 focuses on probing the synthesis of oxides, increasing the range of available oxide compositions, and forming unique nanostructures – directions that are each enabled by use of novel transformations from the amorphous to crystalline form.
Superseeds & Seeds 2017 - 2023 (DMR – 1720415)
Superseed and Seed projects funded by MR 1720415.
Products (DMR - 1720415)
MRSEC projects result in a multitude of important and applicable resources and publications.
News and Highlights 2018 - 2023 (DMR - 1720415)
(2023) 3D-Printed Topological Photonic Waveguides for Microwaves
Wisconsin MRSEC researchers have used 3D-printing to make a new waveguide for microwaves. These waveguides are formed from a topological photonic crystal, which makes them more resistant to defects. As a result, a straight waveguide and a waveguide with multiple bends have the same ability to transmit radiation.
August 9, 2023(2023) Migrant Education Program Gets Energized with Materials
The Wisconsin MRSEC partnered with the Colorado Migrant Education Program to provide MRSEC-developed research-inspired activities to a new underserved and underrepresented audience during the 2023 summer Migrant Education STEAM Academy.
August 9, 2023(2023) Stress-Driven Rotating Lattice in Lateral Solid-Phase Complex Oxide Crystallization
Complex oxide materials have useful electronic, magnetic, and optical properties arising from their versatile composition and crystallographic structure. Wisconsin MRSEC researchers have investigated new methods for the crystallization of complex oxides. They have found that the crystallization of amorphous complex oxide layers from isolated seed crystals presents the opportunity to remove geometric constraints posed by previous thin film epitaxial growth methods on single-crystal substrates.
August 9, 2023(2023) Highly Oriented Glassy Thin Films of Organic Semiconductors
Researchers in the Wisconsin MRSEC have shown that how fast molecules move on the surface of a glass thin film as it is being grown determines the size of regions that share orientation.
August 9, 2023(2023) Guiding Nanoscale Crystallization of Amorphous Solids
MRSEC researchers have found similar phenomena in systems as diverse as amorphous water (the glassy form of ice) and chalcogenides. These various materials have applications spanning electronics, catalysis, and medicine, so the discovery of common features in their crystallization has potential impact far beyond the IRG’s original work in metal oxides.
August 9, 2023(2023) MRSEC Members Introduce Materials Science to First Gen Students
Wisconsin MRSEC scientists created an interactive experience to engage high school students participating in the UW-Madison PEOPLE pre-college program with materials research. PEOPLE provides longitudinal support to first-generation college students from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. Attendees had expressed interest in STEM fields, but for most, this was their first interaction with materials science.
August 9, 2023(2023) A New Common Behavior for Glasses
Wisconsin MRSEC researchers have discovered a new common behavior for glasses: How fast atoms move on a glass surface is connected to how easily flow is activated for the same material as a liquid. This connection holds across all kinds of glasses and over many orders of magnitude in the speed of motion.
August 9, 2023(2023) Lunch Seminar Series Brings Academia and Industry Together
The Wisconsin MRSEC Advanced Materials Industrial Consortium (AMIC) has organized a series of lunch-time seminars by engineers from member companies and prospective member companies. These seminars introduce students, faculty, and staff to the engineering challenges and career opportunities of the industrial partners.
August 9, 2023(2023) Toward White LED Light with a New Substrate
Wisconsin MRSEC researchers have developed a new way to synthesize one possible substrate, ScAlMgO4, by depositing it at low temperature, then crystallizing it. Now, the team has developed the ability to grow high-In InGaN on top of ScAlMgO4 using the industry-standard metal-organic chemical vapor deposition process. The films are smoother than films grown on free-standing ScAlMgO4 substrates, which is a critical prerequisite to devices including LEDs, other optoelectronics, and highspeed electronics. The team has developed an InGaN-based green LED device on a conventional substrate that will yield yellow to red light when grown at higher In content on ScAlMgO4.
August 9, 2023Oliveras Santos Goes to ECS with Support from the MRSEC Honored Scholar Travel Award
by Stephanie Oliveras Santos, Gopalan Group The MRSEC Honored Scholar Travel Award defrayed some of the costs for me to attend the 243rd ECS Meeting in Boston, MA. Based on my experience attending the nanocarbons …
July 25, 2023- More 2017 - 2023 Posts posts