MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

The MIT.nano lab houses an ultrastable floor dedicated to electron microscopes and other sensitive imaging and measurement tools. Professor Jim LeBeau utilizes these facilities, which minimize sound and vibration from around MIT. READ MORE

What’s New

Applications now open for Kavanaugh Translational Fellowships

The Kavanaugh Fellowship provides support to technical scholars to broaden their skills in support of commercial translation and entrepreneurship. Aimed at graduate students and postdocs already expert in materials-based technology, the fellowship provides unencumbered time and mentoring as they prepare to launch new innovations in the marketplace. Applications are now accepted.

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Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors

DMSE Professor Cem Tasan has a paper in Science on why seemingly soft strands of hair can actually fracture scissors and other blades of steel. Through experiments, the team of researchers found that steel blades that are 50 times harder than hair can be damaged by hair through “mixed mode cracking.” The steel cracks, or chips, because both it and the hair that it cuts are made from mixed, or heterogenous structures.

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Rapid material design for solid-state batteries awarded MIT Energy Initiative grant

Professor Elsa Olivetti and Professor Jennifer Rupp's team has been awarded a $150,000 grant through the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Seed Fund Program. They will use the grant to develop an automated synthetic process to speed up the discovery, design, and construction of new ceramic material components for solid-state lithium-ion batteries (SSBs), which have the potential to increase safety and energy efficiency as compared to more conventional liquid-electrolyte batteries.

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Engineers use “DNA origami” to identify vaccine design rules

By folding DNA into a virus-like structure, MIT researchers including Professor Darrell Irvine have designed HIV-like particles that provoke a strong response from human immune cells grown in a lab dish. The DNA particles, which closely mimic the size and shape of viruses, are coated with HIV proteins, or antigens, arranged in precise patterns designed to provoke a strong immune response.

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New ion-based device that operates like a brain synapse

MIT researchers, including Professors Ju Li and Bilge Yildiz, have made strides toward a neural network system using physical, analog devices that can much more efficiently mimic brain processes. The new system's resistive switch is an electrochemical device, which is made of tungsten trioxide (WO3) and works in a way similar to the charging and discharging of batteries.

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Information about MIT's response to COVID-19

Informed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, MIT is acting to keep our community safe and stop the spread of COVID-19. The health and safety of students, faculty, staff, and their families are of the utmost importance to all of us. MIT updates are posted at now.mit.edu. DMSE-specific information is linked below, including new information about responding to cases.

UPDATED - September 16

Spotlight

Developing new ways to advance copper production

Copper and sulfur are two products of a new electrochemical process that the Allanore group has proposed, which converts natural sulfide minerals into liquid copper and elemental sulfur. Copper is the backbone of the electronic area we live in, and is predicted to support the deployment of sustainable power generation. Sulfur is an essential chemical element, source of power, acids or sulfates such as used in agriculture.

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Imitating mussels to create strong hydrogels

MIT researchers have found a way to create strong, flexible threads by imitating the natural ability of mussels. During the 2019 Materials Research Society fall meeting, grad student Sean Cazzell presented his and Professor Niels Holten-Andersen's findings, which could potentially have use in advanced 3D printing of synthetic tissues and other biomedical applications.

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