Materials science and engineering

Angela Belcher (left) and Kristala Prather

3 Questions: Angela Belcher and Kristala Prather on the promise of energy bioscience

Engineers and co-directors of MITEI's Energy Bioscience Low-Carbon Energy Center discuss their vision for transforming the energy system.

July 10, 2017

The Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine’s faculty is made up of Koch Institute members who are committed to fighting cancer with nanomedicine through research, education, and collaboration. Top row (l-r) Sangeeta Bhatia, director; Daniel Anderson; and Angela Belcher. Bottom row: Paula Hammond; Darrell Irvine; and Robert Langer.

Converging on cancer at the nanoscale

Marking its first anniversary, the Koch Institute’s Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine goes full steam ahead.

July 7, 2017

Chemical engineering postdoc Antoni Forner-Cuenca (far right) explains work in the Brushett Lab on advanced flow batteries for grid-level energy storage to 2017 MPC-CMSE Summer Scholars (l-r) Kaila Holloway, Gaetana Michelet, Alexandra Oliveira, Saleem Iqbal, and Alejandro Aponte-Lugo. Forner-Cuenca is holding carbon paper where battery reactions take place.

Summer interns' lab work underway

Summer Scholars in materials science and engineering are tackling projects ranging from magnetic thin films to catalysts for energy.

July 3, 2017

MIT postdoc Sulata Sahu (left) and graduate student Brian Chmielowiec hold a sample of nearly pure copper deposited on an iron electrode.

A new way of extracting copper

Researchers develop an electrically-driven process to separate commercially important metals from sulfide minerals in one step without harmful byproducts.

June 28, 2017

1) Graphene, grown on copper foil, is pressed against a supporting sheet of polycarbonate. 2) The polycarbonate acts to peel the graphene from the copper. 3) Using interfacial polymerization, researchers seal large tears and defects in graphene. 4) Next, they use oxygen plasma to etch pores of specific sizes in graphene.

Scientists produce dialysis membrane made from graphene

Material can filter nanometer-sized molecules at 10 to 100 times the rate of commercial membranes.

June 28, 2017

Left to right: School of Engineering Dean Ian A. Waitz, graduate student Mary Elizabeth Wagner, and Alan Oppenheim '59, ScD '64, who is a sponsor of the School of Engineering Graduate Student Award for Extraordinary Teaching and Mentoring.

School of Engineering awards for 2017

Awards given to outstanding faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students.

June 21, 2017

Aerospace engineers from MIT have developed a laser sensing technique that can decipher not only where but what kind of space junk may be passing overhead.

Space junk: The cluttered frontier

New laser technique identifies the makeup of space debris, from painted shards to Teflon.

June 19, 2017

The proximity of the new headquarters of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Institute to MIT's campus will help connect students and faculty to new facilities, including the Fabric Discovery Center that provides end-to-end prototyping from fiber design to system integration of new textile-based products.

Advanced Functional Fabrics of America opens headquarters steps from MIT campus

New AFFOA facility represents a significant MIT investment in advanced manufacturing innovation.

June 19, 2017

Marty Ellis, of Inman Mills in South Carolina, checks a machine manufacturing fabric developed through AFFOA.

AFFOA launches state-of-the-art facility for prototyping advanced fabrics

New center for development of high-tech fibers and fabrics opens headquarters, unveils two products ready for commercialization.

June 19, 2017

Inspectors assess the damage to a home on the Florida coast following Hurricane Matthew, which struck in October 2016.

Building to better weather the storm

New dashboard developed by the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub helps builders calculate the breakeven cost of hazard mitigation in hurricane-prone areas.

June 13, 2017