The Center for the Science and Engineering of Materials (CSEM), established in September of 2000, addresses both research and educational aspects of polymeric, structural, photonic, and ferroelectric materials that will be necessary to solve critical societal needs of the twenty-first century. The Center pioneers a number of exotic and futuristic materials and applications such as liquid metals, responsive gels, and tiny medical sensors.

• CSEM fact sheet, click to download.
• CSEM educational outreach fact sheet, click to download.

Solar Fuels – Thermochemical Processes & Reactor Technology
Aldo Steinfeld, ETH Zurich and Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Wednesday, January 14th
2:00 pm in Keck 142
Solar thermochemical processes for the production of hydrogen, syngas, metals, and other synthetic fuels and materials make use of concentrated solar radiation as the energy source of high-temperature process heat. Considered are water-splitting thermochemical cycles based on metal oxide redox reactions at 2000 K, and reforming / gasification / decomposition processes for the thermal decarbonization of fossil fuels at 1500 K. R&D work encompasses fundamental studies on thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, heat/mass transfer, and chemical reactor engineering. Solar reactor prototypes are designed, fabricated, modeled, and tested in a high-flux solar furnace, further optimized for maximum solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency, and finally scaled-up for (MW) industrial applications using concentrating solar tower technology.

Caltech faculty associate Jeff Synder and colleagues have invented a new material that will make cars even more efficient by converting heat lost through engine exhaust into electricity. In a paper published July 25, 2008 in the journal Science, the scientists describe the unique thermoelectric material, which has twice the efficiency other such materials currently on the market, and works most effectively in the temperature range typical of automobile engines. The same technology could also work in power generators and heat pumps. Read more at www.sciencemag.org.

CSEM has received a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a semiconductor industry consortium on nanoelectronics to conduct work on a novel material--graphenes. Over three years, the grant will fund a project intended to take the field beyond the Moore's Law regime and utilize new architecture concepts. The grant recipients are Marc Bockrath, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics, Nai-Chang Yeh, Professor of Physics, and Shuki Bruck, the Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Computation and Neural Systems and Electrical Engineering.

The AT&T Tech Channel discusses Plasmonics with Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science. New research in Plasmonics promises breakthroughs with implications ranging from the creation of faster than light computing, possible new weapons against cancer, and maybe even achieving invisibility. Video clip...

In the online journal Science Express, Caltech applied physicists Harry Atwater, Henri Lezec, and Jen Dionne report that they have devised a way to make visible light travel in the opposite direction that it normally bends when passing from one material to another, like from air through water or glass. This could lead to "cloaking devices" that may render an object invisible.

GradPreview at Caltech
GradPreview at Caltech aims to increase the representation of underrepresented students in science and engineering graduate programs. The next GradPreview will be held in 2008. Read more...

On Location with Material World
Sponsored by CSEM, Material World is a television series that describes inspiring breakthroughs in our understanding of matter. (view trailer)

Materials Research Lectures
Wednesdays at 4:00 pm in 106 Spalding
(view schedule)