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The Northwestern Prison Education Program is an initiative to provide a high-quality liberal arts and STEM education to incarcerated students in Illinois in partnership with Oakton Community College and the Illinois Department of Corrections. Responding to the crisis of mass incarceration, NPEP fills a vital need by being the only degree-granting program in the State of Illinois with a full liberal arts curriculum including STEM courses for incarcerated students.

CDCM’s Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program engages elementary school teachers in materials research at UT Austin during the summer and has created lasting impact over the past six years. The program aims to increase teacher efficacy in research practices and guide teachers in integrating what they learn into their instructional practice. The end goals are to enhance students’ engagement in science and increase students’ awareness of and interest in STEM fields.  

The Industrial Mentorship Program connects undergraduate students, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to a PhD level mentor in industry. This program is designed to (i) expose participants to fundamental research as it relates to societal and economic development; (ii) enable them to broaden their networks; and (iii) facilitate a successful transition into the workforce. The Industrial Mentor program entered its sixth program cycle during 2023-2024 and since its inception, 147 students have participated as mentees in the program, with 30 of those from the CIMA PREM at Texas State University.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) leads a new $7 million research collaboration involving six universities to develop a new generation of electronic devices in partnership with an industry consortium.

Toyota Research Institute of North America, collaborating with MRSEC-supported scientists and facilities have developed a novel [LiCl]/[FeOCl] heterointerface composite material (LFH) that achieves high lithium-ion conductivity from two traditionally non-conductive materials. The unique core-shell structure facilitates interstitial lithium-ion diffusion.

UD CHARM and Princeton’s PCCM coordinated with the Chicago MRSEC to host three virtual events (Soft Matter for All, Rising Stars, and a Professional Development Workshop) to highlight early career, high-impact research and ignite discussion for graduate students and postdocs pursuing academic and non-academic career paths.

The NU-MRSEC amplifies its societal impact by engaging industry and other partners, promoting commercialization, and providing shared facilities that are informed by the latest materials research.  In this manner, the latest scientific developments are efficiently brought to the marketplace, and society at large.

PAQM researcher Theanne Schiros creatied a virtual exhibition entitled 6878 KM. The exhibition features outreach and international sustainable development teaching natural dye chemistry to artisans, especially women, in ultra-poor communities in West Africa.

The recent Quantum Materials and Machine Learning Workshop brought together 22 invited speakers and in total 50 graduate students, postdoc, faculty attendees from 18 different institutions for an intensive exploration of cutting-edge developments at the intersection of quantum physics, materials science, and machine learning. The program featured established researchers alongside three postdoctoral fellows, fostering meaningful dialogue between different career stages.