Through the Materials Research Facilities Network, high-tech instrumentation at the centers is made available to U.S. researchers who do not have access to such capabilities at their home intuitions. The network provides national access to these resources to maximize their public benefit.
Current Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers
Listed below are institutions housing centers currently supported by NSF and each center's two primary research areas.
Brandeis University
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Bioinspired materials with the ability to limit their self-assembly and growth without external control.
- Materials that mimic traits of living biological organisms such as crawling, flowing, swimming and walking.
Columbia University
Precision-Assembled Quantum Materials
- Precisely layered 2D materials of different types to produce new materials with useful quantum properties.
- New types of atomically precise materials based on "superatoms" — premade nanoscale building blocks of atoms — with applications in sensing and computing technologies.
Harvard University
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Functional soft materials that augment human performance and that can sense, actuate, communicate and be incorporated into wearables, haptic interfaces and artificial muscles.
- Behavior of soft materials when they are not in a state of equilibrium.
Northwestern University
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Bioprogrammable soft composite materials that incorporate biological machinery in a cell-free platform without the nourishment and care demands of living tissue.
- Materials that conduct both ions and electrons in a manner similar to neurons for new brain-inspired computation capabilities in AI, robotics and other areas.
Ohio State University
- Magnetic materials enabling systems with fast, efficient control of magnetic states for next-generation electronics.
- Topological phases in strongly correlated magnetic materials with potential applications in spintronics and quantum information technologies.
The Pennsylvania State University
- Ultrathin materials made of complex structures of metal, graphene and other substances with applications in quantum devices and biosensing.
- Engineered crystals with specific configurations enabling unique properties not normally found in crystals.
Princeton University
- Novel electronic effects in quantum materials, including spin liquid systems and superconducting materials.
- Using an understanding of how cells use macromolecules to function to design new responsive materials systems with highly tunable properties.
UC Irvine
Center for Complex and Active Materials
- Complex concentrated metal and ceramic materials with properties such as high strength and substantially reduced thermal conductivity.
- Bioinspired active materials that self-assemble in response to electronic and other stimuli, such as light, to create an interface between biology and synthetic electronic devices.
UC San Diego
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Assembly of nanoscale building blocks into functional, tunable materials at larger scales.
- Integrating engineered living matter with polymer materials, with potential uses in biosynthetic electronics, chemical threat decontamination, medical therapies and more.
UC Santa Barbara
- Electrostatically mediated polymer processing enabling more sustainable creation of polymers, nanostructures and other materials by avoiding the use of solvents.
- Bioinspired plasticity using networks of polymers that can absorb large amounts of water and mimic the ability of living systems to respond to stimuli.
The University of Chicago
- Trainable soft materials that can exhibit specific responses to different stimuli, enabling advances such as adaptive impact-absorbing materials that can learn to redirect internal stresses.
- Shape-morphing hybrid materials with programmable properties such as the ability to convert energy into mechanical work.
University of Delaware
Center for Hybrid, Active and Responsive Materials
- Synthetic proteins designed to create new nanostructures, move in particular ways and form simple machines.
- Materials that interact with terahertz electromagnetic radiation with possible applications in biomedical and security screening.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Using deformation to control electron flow in 2D materials and thin films for microelectronics.
- Using light to control the flow of ions in materials with applications for designing new types of batteries and other energy technologies.
University of Michigan
Center for Materials Innovation
- Developing a new class of materials wherein multiple types of the same 2D material are synthesized within each other, creating robust and novel quantum states.
- New polymer-based materials that are reconfigurable, enabling versatile self-healing and recycling.
University of Minnesota
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Ionic control of materials to enable electrical control over a wide range of electronic phases and functions.
- Materials with shape-filling and shape-changing abilities such as the capacity to assemble functional nets.
University of Pennsylvania
Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter
- Materials with the ability to learn and react to their surroundings, enabling innovations such as capable soft robots and shape-camouflaging materials.
- Manipulating the assembly of proteins, cells and other soft materials to engineer living matter with applications in biotechnology and medicine.
The University of Tennessee
Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
- Quantum materials design and control using AI with applications in energy technologies, low-power electronics, quantum computing and sensing.
- High-performance materials that can withstand extreme temperatures and pressure needed for nuclear fusion and hypersonic defense systems.
The University of Texas at Austin
Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials
- Soft biomaterials whose structure and functionality can be actively controlled and which can be used for applications such as synthetic cells and adaptive thermal coatings.
- Atomically thin materials with novel structures that can be useful for microelectronics, quantum information processing and other applications.
University of Washington
Molecular Engineering Materials Center
- Materials in which light can tune the magnetic properties of individual electrons for applications in quantum information processing and sensing.
- "Elastic quantum matter" materials in which strain forces produce and influence quantum-scale effects.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
- Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Atomic-scale mobility in glasses and supercooled liquids enabling the design of new glass materials for organic electronics and other applications.
- Magnetic materials known as crystalline membranes with the potential for discovering new phases of matter and applications in high-speed, low-power data processing and storage and other areas.