Materials Science and Engineering

Jeffrey Grossman, the Morton and Claire Goulder and Family Professor in Environmental Systems and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, has been appointed the new head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Jeffrey Grossman named head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Materials engineering and energy expert to succeed Chris Schuh.

December 26, 2019

Inspired by tissue that keep mussels attached to rocks underwater, MIT graduate student Seth Cazzell (pictured) and Associate Professor Niels Holten-Andersen found that controlling pH enables reversible hydrogel formation.

Widening metal tolerance for hydrogels

MIT graduate student Seth Cazzell shows controlling pH enables reversible hydrogel formation in wider range of metal concentrations.

December 23, 2019

$Attendees joined a group photo at the 2019 MIT Alloy Design Workshop, which focused on bridging scale gaps, enabling complex alloy design through the understanding of fundamental nanoscale mechanisms of plasticity and fracture mechanics.$

Workshop connects microscale mechanics to real-world alloy design

“Micromechanics informed alloy design: Overcoming scale-transition challenges” focuses on bridging scale gaps.

December 17, 2019

Associate Professor Elsa Olivetti studies the huge quantities of industrial waste materials generated in the manufacturing industry, in hopes of finding useful ways to reconstitute and reuse this waste for building.

Making buildings from industrial waste

Following a successful project creating bricks from pulp plant waste in northern India, Elsa Olivetti is looking for ways to repurpose slag produced by the metals industry.

December 16, 2019

Interactive training simulations use 3D virtual environments to create a playground for photonics experimentation.

Using online, game-based simulations to train photonic technicians and engineers

MIT wins $5 million grant to develop a virtual lab that will prepare students for jobs in industry and government.

December 12, 2019

Cake's end of life planning service breaks down what can be an overwhelming process into a series of simple questions to help people make decisions around health care treatments, funeral arrangements, estate planning, and how they want to be remembered after they’re gone.

Planning for death, as a way to improve life

Startup co-founded by alumna Suelin Chen helps people share their end-of-life wishes with loved ones.

December 6, 2019

Li-Huei Tsai, left, is the Picower Professor of Neuroscience and director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and Christopher Schuh, is department head and the Danae and Vasilis Salapatas Professor of Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Two MIT professors named 2019 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

Li-Huei Tsai and Christopher Schuh recognized for research innovations addressing Alzheimer’s disease and metal mechanics.

December 3, 2019

MIT engineers used human ureteral smooth muscle cells grown in a lab dish to identify drugs that would help to relax the muscle cells.

New treatment could ease the passage of kidney stones

Muscle relaxants delivered to the ureter can reduce contractions that cause pain when passing a stone.

December 2, 2019

An MIT-invented circuit uses only a nanometer-wide “magnetic domain wall” to modulate the phase and magnitude of a spin wave, which could enable practical magnetic-based computing — using little to no electricity.

Toward more efficient computing, with magnetic waves

Circuit design offers a path to “spintronic” devices that use little electricity and generate practically no heat.

November 28, 2019

School of Engineering third quarter 2019 awards

Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter.

November 27, 2019

Clockwise from upper left: Megan Yamoah, Billy Woltz, Fran Vasconcelos, Claire Halloran, and Ali Daher

Five MIT students named 2020 Rhodes Scholars

Ali Daher, Claire Halloran, Francisca Vasconcelos, Billy Andersen Woltz, and Megan Yamoah will begin postgraduate studies at Oxford University next fall.

November 23, 2019

Illustration shows the apparatus used to create a thin layer of a transparent, electrically conductive material, to protect solar cells or other devices. The chemicals used to produce the layer, shown in tubes at left, are introduced into a vacuum chamber where they deposit a layer on a substrate material at top of the chamber.

Clear, conductive coating could protect advanced solar cells, touch screens

New material should be relatively easy to produce at an industrial scale, researchers say.

November 22, 2019

MIT Professor Frances Ross (center) describes the recently installed ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscope to (background, from left) Geoffrey Beach, Jennifer Meanwell, and William Gilstrap.

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center welcomes ultra-high vacuum microscopes

Transmission electron microscope and scanning tunneling microscope offer unique capabilities.

November 14, 2019

MIT to receive $260 million from Lord Foundation of Massachusetts

Longstanding supporter of the Institute allows for flexibility in determining how funds will be used.

November 13, 2019

Sale of LORD Corporation leads to $1 billion-plus fund for education, research at Cleveland Clinic, Duke, MIT and USC