Department of Materials Science and Engineering
When the size of a feature approaches the size of atoms—the very building blocks of matter—optical, electronic, magnetic, and mechanical behavior can change dramatically. Quantifying exactly how such changes occur in a material is the business of materials science and engineering. Many faculty in DMSE study how mechanical behavior changes at the nanoscale for materials such as living cells, designer polymers, bioceramics, optoelectronic materials, surface coatings, and metals.
Facilities for NanoReseach While many groups and labs affiliated with DMSE are performing research at the nano-scale, some facilities are dedicated to "tiny technologies."
Nanotech Funding in DMSE Financial support for research in nano- and micro-technologies in materials science and engineering comes for a variety of sources.
Research groups studying Nanotechnology Areas studied in DMSE include nanolithography (in the Ross group), microsystems (in the Thompson group), computational nanotechnology (in the Marzari group), and microphotonics.
