With an eye toward improving material science through increased diverse perspectives, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded six Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) awards this year, in its fifth such competition since 2004. Whether they focus on new laser treatments that may better target cancer cells, or on exploring new materials that could lead to sustainable energy alternatives, PREM awards couple the expertise of NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) with minority-serving colleges and universities to involve those students in some of the nation's preeminent materials research.

NSF today announced awards for 12 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs) for multidisciplinary work that covers all areas of material science, fostering active university, national laboratory, industrial and international collaboration with integral multidisciplinary education and outreach. MRSECs receive $56 million in NSF funding.

On June 24, 2013, the White House named UW-Madison a partner institution in its Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness, a national effort to double the speed with which the country discovers, develops and manufactures new materials.

Scientists across North Carolina will now be able to probe the mysteries of very tiny particles, polymers, and surfaces for applications ranging from biomedicine to polymer science. Thanks to an $850,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a consortium of universities – Duke, North Carolina State and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill – has created the Triangle Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) facility at Duke.

Press Release 12-099 Projects will investigate materials for renewable energy, advanced electronics, biomaterials, organic and polymeric materials The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced six Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) awards as a result of the 2012 PREM competition.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced awards for three Materials Interdisciplinary Research Teams (MIRT) and nine Centers of Excellence in Materials Research and Innovation, also known as Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC). The awards resulted from the 2011 Materials Research Centers and Teams competition (solicitation NSF 10-568).

Xavier University of Louisiana and New York University have received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to bolster diversity among materials scientists through collaborative research and curriculum development. The award was one of eight awarded this year under NSF’s Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) program and funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

MRSEC programs provide transformative opportunities for  students and faculty at minority-serving institutions to participate in leading-edge materials science and engineering  research. But in order to encourage more underrepresented  minority researchers to take advantage of these opportunities, we need to cultivate personal connections with those at

PROGRAM GUIDELINES Solicitation  10-568

REINVENTING PHOTOVOLTAICS