UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
This multifaceted MRSEC enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine, separations, and plastic electronics to security, renewable energy, and information technology. The UMN MRSEC manages an extensive program in education and career development. Center research activities are integrated with educational programs, providing interdisciplinary training of students and postdocs. The MRSEC is bolstered by a broad complement of over 35 companies that contribute directly to IRG research through intellectual, technological, and financial support. International research collaborations and student exchanges are pursued with leading research labs in Asia and Europe. The UMN MRSEC benefits from an extensive suite of materials synthesis, characterization and computational facilities.
Highlights
IRG-2 Research Highlight: Two Photon Photoemission -2PPE- Spectroscopy of Pentacene
Xiaoyang Zhu -IRG 2-. Understanding electronic energy levels in organic semiconductors is critical to their application in devices. Zhu has used 2PPE to measure the energy to excite an electron out of a layer of the organic semiconductor pentacene. This measurement is relevant to the use of pentacene in organic -plastic- solar cells. Read More
Education Highlight Polymer Day - You Make It, You Break It
Four faculty -Bates, Hillmyer, Lodge, Macosko- and seven graduate students -Erin Arndt, Mike Bluemle, Will Gramlich, Carlos Lopez, Louis Pitet, Zach Thompson, Ling Zhang- from IRG-1, Microstructured Polymers, led a day-long class for 23 high school students. The students were participants in a weeklong summer camp, Exploring Careers in Science and Engineering, put on by the Institute of Technology's Center for Educational Programs Read More
Frank Bates --IRG-1-- receives 2008 Sustained Research Prize of the Neutron Scattering Society of America
Prof. Frank Bates is the recipient of the 2008 Sustained Research Prize of the Neutron Scattering Society of America with the citation:For his pioneering SANS experiments that probe the structure and thermodynamics of polymeric fluids and block copolymers. Read More