Page 20 - UMN Chemnews December 2020

research News
University of Minnesota receives $18M grant for materials research
Funding includes research and outreach to inspire the next generation
The University of Minnesota Materials Research Science and Engineering Center’s researchers conduct cut- ting-edge materials research that enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine and electronics to security and renewable energy. Credit: University of Minnesota
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
has awarded $18 million in funding over the next six years for the University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). The University of Minnesota MRSEC program is among only 11 centers nationwide receiving funding for successful collaborative research.
Since its inception in 1998, the University
of Minnesota MRSEC has received cumu- lative total funding exceeding $79 million from NSF. The center’s researchers conduct cutting-edge materials research that enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine and electronics to security and renewable energy.
“This funding is a strong affirmation of the high national stature of modern materials research at the University of Minnesota and a testament to the consistently excellent research and outreach carried out by our students, postdocs, faculty, and staff,” said University of Minnesota Regents Professor Timothy Lodge, a professor in the Department of Chemistry
20 Chemnews December 2020
and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science who has served as the MRSEC director since 2005.
The University of Minnesota MRSEC features two interdisciplinary research groups. The
first group, led by Distinguished McKnight University Professor Chris Leighton in
the Department of Chemical Engineering
and Materials Science, aims to access novel electronic and magnetic properties by direct application of strong local electric fields to promising new materials. This Quantum Leap-aligned research will realize extraordinary materials control, thereby enabling new ap- proaches to low-power magnetic data storage and processing, neuro-inspired computation, and nanophotonic devices such as solar cells.
The second group, led by Professor Mahesh Mahanthappa in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, is devel- oping novel and systematic approaches to assembling polymeric materials into network structures with superior property combina- tions. These will advance multiple applica-
tions, including membranes for removal of viruses and bacteria, materials for new battery designs, therapeutic delivery platforms, and efficient photovoltaic materials.
Chemistry’s involvement
The Department of Chemistry has a num- ber of researchers involved with MRSEC, including professors Renee Frontiera, Christy Haynes, Jessica Lamb, Theresa Reineke and J. Ilja Siepmann, post-doctoral researchers Liwen Chen, Soumi Das, Lucy Liberman Solomon and Ke “Lucas” Luo, and graduate students Ethan Gormong, Rebeca Rodriguez, and Ziwei Yu.
In addition, professors Kyle Bantz, Lee Penn, and Jane Wissinger work with the MRSEC Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program that allows teachers to actively partic- ipate in current research with faculty research groups and design standards-based classroom activities from those experiences. A popular program is the Green & Sustainable High School Teachers Workshop, now in its fourth year, created and led by Professor Wissinger and teachers Cassie Knutson from White Bear Lake High School and Cassie Javner from Shakopee High School.
Outreach and Education
Preparing the next generation of scientists and engineers is a top priority for the University’s MRSEC. MRSEC investigators provide extensive research experiences for promising undergraduates from a national network of four-year colleges, minority serving institu- tions, and especially tribal colleges. Summer camps for high school students, drawn from the Twin Cities and from Native American communities across the upper Midwest, involve senior investigators, students, and postdoctoral fellows in hands-on laboratory activities. MRSEC also supports entertain- ing demonstration shows, which illustrate