Materials Science and Engineering

This cluster represents transdisciplinary research areas in advanced materials including smart energetic and campsite materials, quantum materials, and biomaterials, polymers and membrane technologies, nanotechnologies, and additive/advanced manufacturing systems.

The scope of nanotechnology research includes scientific and engineering phenomena at the minutest and most fundamental levels in order to develop technologies for environmental and pharmaceutical applications. The interdisciplinary group on engineered materials and particulates focuses on technology development for the preparation, processing and use of engineered-particulate materials and their composites for a spectrum of applications. Research in the manufacturing systems group involves developing new methods and technologies for design innovation and process automation. A specific emphasis is to devise new processes and tools for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The Material Science and Engineering cluster spans over almost all research clusters including Bioscience and Bioengineering, Environment and Sustainability, Robotics and Machine Intelligence and Data Science and Management in developing environmental and medical sensors and devices, tissue engineering intelligent robotics and rehabilitation systems, additive and pharmaceutical manufacturing, smart buildings and sustainable communities, and data driven modeling and simulation for the development and characterization of smart materials.

NAE and NAS Grand Challenges and NSF Big Ideas within the scope of this cluster include “Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure”, “Solar Energy”, “Provide Energy from Fusion”, “Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods”, and “The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier”, and “The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution”.