Nine Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs) have received a $162 million investment from the National Science Foundation to develop advanced materials with exceptional capabilities. These centers will not only train students but also collaborate with local startups. (Photo contributor: Gorodenkoff, Shutterstock.com)

The scientific discoveries made in these centers will be transformed into practical innovations that can benefit various sectors of the U.S. economy. The MRSECs will focus on unlocking new capabilities in fields such as semiconductors, biotech, and quantum information.

They will also develop materials that can withstand extreme temperatures and pressures required for nuclear fusion and hypersonic defense systems. The investment will be split between each center receiving $18 million over six years.

The aim of these centers is to transform scientific discoveries into practical innovations that can benefit various sectors of the U.S. economy. The new materials will have remarkable properties, such as withstanding the heat of a fusion reactor and processing information at the quantum level.

According to NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, the MRSECs will help expand and enrich the innovation ecosystem nationwide, creating new opportunities in semiconductors, biotech, quantum information, and other fields. The 2023 class of MRSECs is located across nine institutions in the United States.

NSF now supports 20 such centers, all of which focus on unlocking new capabilities in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, sustainable energy sources and storage, advanced manufacturing, quantum computing and sensing, and other critical areas of materials research. The centers also train students and early career researchers to become tomorrow’s scientific and technical leaders.

Sean L. Jones, the NSF assistant director for mathematical and physical sciences, stated that since the 1970s, NSF’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers have yielded countless breakthroughs. They have provided the essential catalyst for American innovations that propel our country’s scientific and economic leadership.

The centers also provide resources to train hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students and educational STEM programs that engage hundreds more K-12 students and teachers in dozens of school districts. The centers collaborate with local startups and the business community to form partnerships that can take novel materials from the discovery phase to commercialization.

Many collaborating institutions, including minority-serving and emerging-research institutions, will also participate with the centers. There are nine centers set to open in 2023, each with its own unique focus and location.

The Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, located at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will explore how materials can be manipulated to control the motion of electrons.

The Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials, located at The University of Texas at Austin, will design new soft biomaterials that can be controlled for different applications.

The Northwestern University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, located at Northwestern University, aims to create bio-inspired materials that perform self-directed functions, such as self-healing and shape-morphing.

The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, located at the University of Pennsylvania, will develop new materials that can adapt to their surroundings and external triggers. The UCSB Materials Research Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara will focus on developing new chemistries and processing methods to manufacture sustainable polymers without solvents.

The Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will focus on developing new types of glassy materials.

The Center for Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, located at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will use artificial intelligence to accelerate the understanding, design, and control of quantum materials and systems. They will also focus on developing materials that can withstand extreme temperatures and pressures required for nuclear fusion and hypersonic defense systems.

Finally, the Center for Materials Innovations at Michigan, located at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, will work on developing materials for use in energy-efficient electronics and quantum technologies.