The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the State University of New York Stony Brook entitled "MRSEC-Novel Materials, Processes and Functional Materials by Thermal Spray" is a collaboration between SUNY Stony Brook, UC Santa Barbara, MIT, Idaho National Engineering Lab, Sandia National Lab, NIST, and Brookhaven National Lab. The goal of the Center is develop the scientific base for the complex technique of thermal spray and to create a robust and predictive materials deposition tool. The Center's research is organized into one interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG). A major initiative of the group is to develop theoretical and experimental tools for processing and characterization of functional deposits with coupled mechanical/electrical and mechanical/magnetic properties. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors. The Center has a strong industrial outreach program, which creates mutually beneficial relationships between the MRSEC and the industrial sector. The program also provides opportunities for students to be involved in internship programs and is especially targeted to encourage minority students to enter the field. The collaborations with National Labs are extensive and involve a significant number of faculty members and students. Participants in the Center currently include 17 senior investigators, 3 postdoctoral associates, 6 graduate students, 8 undergraduate students and 1 support person. Professor Herbert Herman directs the MRSEC.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst supports interactive research in three major groups with emphasis on polymeric and bimolecular materials. Researchers in the group investigating polymers in restricted geometries seek to understand the behavior of polymers at interfaces and in porous media. This work is motivated by the critical role of interfacial phenomena in determining the performance of advanced materials. The group focusing on biomolecular materials aims to develop and analyze well-defined artificial proteins and biodegradable bacterial storage polyesters. The group investigating advanced polyolefins and blends proposes to develop new synthesis and processing routes to high performance materials based on simple olefins such as ethylene and propylene. This particular work is motivated by the availability of a new generation of catalysts that enables petroleum feedstocks to be converted directly into high performance materials. The MRSEC supports the development, operation and maintenance of shared experimental facilities for materials research. It provides seed funding for exploratory research and fosters research participation by undergraduates. The MRSEC is associated with an educational outreach program with special emphasis on attracting and keeping women and underrepresented minorities in science. The Center for UMass-Industry Research on Polymers (CUMIRP) provides industrial liaison. The MRSEC currently involves 24 senior investigators, 3 postdoctoral research associates, 3 technical staff members, 21 graduate students, and 12 undergraduates. The MRSEC at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is directed by Professor David A. Tirrell.

The NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at UC Santa Barbara develops and sustains a productive, collaborative, and engaged community that drives a portfolio of transformative materials research and empowers a diverse workforce.

The Center for Nanoscale Science supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research efforts on nanoscale materials. Principal research activities are organized into two interdisciplinary research groups:  2D Polar Metals & Heterostructures and Crystalline Oxides with High Entropy.  Center-initiated programs encourage collaborative partnerships with science museums and non-R1 universities as well as engagement in outreach, education, and workforce development initiatives.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at New York University (NYU) focused on Semantophoretic Assemblies (semantophoretic = carrying information) unites four NYU Departments, Princeton University, the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, and collaborators from key institutions, in an interdisciplinary program that addresses Colloidal Architecture, merging investigators with expertise in experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics, colloid science, synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, solid-state chemistry, and biomaterials to develop principles for the fabrication of innovative materials - from the colloidal to macroscopic scale - based on colloidal particles equipped with self-contained information that directs assembly, either through shape or chemical interactions. The Center operates an ambitious program aimed at creating unique K-12 and post-secondary education activities while broadening the participation of groups underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. These efforts include the award-winning Scientific Frontiers Program, which introduces competency-matched curriculum content to elementary, middle and high schools and communities in New York City, reaching substantial numbers of minority students. The Center also supports REU students, integrating them with an existing REU operated jointly with the City College of New York, a minority-serving institution in Harlem. The summer research program sponsors faculty-student research teams from four-year colleges, and through the NYU-centered Faculty Resource Network, numerous minority-serving institutions. The Center also hosts Science Writers-in-Residence workshops, led by prominent science writers, which are open to Center participants at all levels as well as the community beyond the MRSEC. The Center's research and education efforts benefit from materials synthesis, characterization and computational facilities, which are shared by MRSEC faculty, students, postdoctoral research associates, industrial partners and outreach participants. The Center operates an Industrial Partners Program with dual-level membership aimed at encouraging pre-competitive collaborative research as well as more directed research. Industrial interactions are reinforced by annual meetings as well as symposia operated in conjunction with the New York Academy of Sciences. International collaborations through student and faculty exchanges as well as International Partner Workshops significantly expand the impact of the MRSEC beyond NYU.

The Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM), a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Princeton University, brings together researchers from five science and engineering departments to address pressing questions in interdisciplinary materials research. PCCM employs an integrated team approach in which experiment, theory, and simulation combine to underpin every interdisciplinary research group (IRG); each IRG is further enhanced by substantial industrial and international collaborations. The Center is committed to the integration of its forefront research with science and engineering education, extending from the postdoctoral and graduate levels, through its Partnership for Research and Education in Materials with California State University at Northridge and a vibrant Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, to serving as a regional resource for K-12 education in materials.

The Center has four interdisciplinary research groups. IRG A investigates two groups of unusual electronic materials, both of which show superior thermoelectric performance at low temperatures and suggest novel electronics applications. The first group includes a broad range of conducting oxides with a triangular-lattice structure, motivated by findings on sodium cobaltate revealing a rich array of electronic states. The second group includes "Dirac materials," such as graphene and bismuth-antimony alloys, which will allow direct examination of a theorized quantum state of matter, the topological insulator. IRG B executes a multidisciplinary investigation of molecular interfaces formed by non-traditional methods, such as stamping, printing, lamination, and laser-induced deposition. These fabrication techniques are moving towards applications in large-area and disposable electronic, light emission, and energy conversion and storage devices based on organic materials, yet very little is presently known of the interfaces they produce. IRG C focuses on integrating self-assembling nanoscale building blocks, such as large organic molecules, inorganic nanoparticles, and block copolymer nanodomains, into defined structures of macroscopic dimensions for applications as diverse as electron emitter arrays and photovoltaic cells. Self-assembly is an economical and rapid fabrication approach, and integrating self-assembled nanostructures into larger-scale units offers fundamental scientific challenges to accompany these technological opportunities. IRG D aims to create new materials systems with functionality derived from control of quantum degrees of freedom, such as the interaction of carriers with surfaces and defects, coherent charge and spin transport, and processes which limit the efficiency of coherent light emission. By integrating nanostructure fabrication capabilities, novel high-frequency and nanoscale characterization tools, and low-dimensional semiconductor theory, researchers will significantly advance understanding of, and ability to control, quantum phenomena for applications ranging from spin electronics, quantum electronics, and quantum cascade lasers.

In materials education, PCCM's goals are threefold: 1) to educate a diverse group of agile Ph.D. graduates and postdoctoral researchers, who will form the next generation of materials faculty and industrial researchers, 2) to provide REU experiences for a broad set of non-Princeton undergraduates, especially students from non-Ph.D.-granting institutions, women, and underrepresented minority groups, and 3) to serve as a regional resource for K-12 materials education, leveraged via partnerships with other New Jersey organizations. Impact evaluation is a key aspect of all educational programs. Technology transfer to industry is facilitated through workshops and through the research collaborations with industrial researchers that are part of each IRG, and through an early-stage technologies program to develop Princeton inventions prior to transfer. The open-access shared experimental facilities established and supported by PCCM serve as a vital research resource for the region, with a broad user base spanning academic, nonprofit, and industrial laboratories.

The Materials Research Science and Egineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Virginia supports an interdisciplinary research program on nanoscopic materials design. The group research explores the guided growth of epitaxial semiconductor sufaces, combining short-range self-assembly phenomena with long-range pattern definition techniques. Techniques utilized include focused ion beam surface modification, nano-scaled electrochemical etching and strain field engineering. This will lead to the capability for definition of nanoscale semiconductor surface structures of arbitrary length scales and complexity, with applications to quantum device structures, biological templating and nanoscale electrochemical processes. The Center's research is aided by extensive collaborations with other universities, government and industrial laboratories. The Center also provides seed support for emerging research opportunities in related areas.

The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors. Education outreach efforts focus on developing collaborations with two- and four-year colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and include a joint curriculum development effort with Longwood College, Northern Virginia Community College and Hampton University.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the California Institute of Technology supports an interdisciplinary research program on advanced materials, as well as a wide range of educational activities, including outreach to minority communities in California both at the pre-college and college level, and development of pre-college instructional materials. The Center supports well maintained shared experimental facilities and also supports interactive efforts with industry and other sectors.

The Center's research is organized into two interdisciplinary research groups (IRG). IRG 1, Biological Synthesis and Assembly of Macromolecular Materials, uses powerful biological approaches for the synthesis and assembly of polymeric materials. IRG 2, Bulk Metallic Glasses and Composites, explores new strategies to produce bulk metallic glasses and their composites with enhanced mechanical properties. The Center also provides seed support for emerging research opportunities in photonic and ferroelectric materials.

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) is an interdisciplinary research and educational enterprise within Carnegie Mellon University dedicated the understanding, control and optimization of grain boundary dominated materials properties. The collaboration of researchers with complementary backgrounds, skills, and knowledge is critical to meeting the Center's technical objectives.

Research focus

Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft, automobiles, and devices such as computers are polycrystalline. In other words, they are made up of many microscopic crystals held together by grain boundaries. It is widely recognized that the types of grain boundaries in a material and the manner in which they are connected affect a wide range of properties and, ultimately, a material's performance and lifetime. In most cases, however, our ability to predict and control the materials properties that are governed by the grain boundaries is severely limited by our incomplete knowledge of the network structure and the behavior of individual interfaces. The CMU MRSEC's goals are to understand the origins of the quantifiable characteristics of polycrystals that arise during processing, to develop strategies for influencing these characteristics in predictable ways, and to define microstructural metrics that can be directly related to macroscopic properties and performance. The Center's tools and findings will have applications in a range of practical materials processing applications and, to insure rapid implementation, we work collaboratively with government, industry, and international laboratories.

The University of Oklahoma / University of Arkansas Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), titled the Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures (CSPIN), supports innovative research and education in controlled growth of semiconductor and ferroelectric arrays, and narrow band gap semiconductor heterostructures. Potential applications include inexpensive high density, low power, non-volatile memory, negative refractive index materials, and improved magnetic read-head technology. The center will develop coordinated activities in graduate and undergraduate education, advance inquiry based learning for the improved understanding of K-12 science, and partner with regional museums to produce exhibits for the general public.

The MRSEC consists of two Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs); IRG-1 Collective Properties of Nanostructure Arrays - control over semiconductor and ferroelectric materials growth will yield systems that give new insight into the collective interactions between individual quantum dots, wires and rings, and will provide the basis for new optical and electronic materials. IRG-2 Mesoscopic Narrow Gap Systems - explores the unique properties of narrow bandgap semiconductor materials to address nanoscale electronic devices that exploit quantum mechanical effects for higher speed operation, denser memory with increased functionality.