RESEARCH
recognized
for its research in materials synthesis, characterization, nanostructured
naterials and thin films, computational materials science, metallic glasses,
electronic materials, and nondestructive evaluation
Research Centers
There are currently three centers associated with the Department. A new
interdisciplinary Materials
Research Science and Engineering Center on Nanostructured Materials,
funded by the National Science
Foundation, was established in January, 1997. This effort brings together
researchers from materials science, physics, and chemical engineering
to study the unique electrical and magnetic properties of nanostructures.
The Center for Nondestructive
Evaluation has its home here and several faculty members have active
research programs in this area.
Central Facilities
The Department's Surface Analytical Laboratory is located in Maryland
Hall and includes a scanning Auger electron spectrometer and an x-ray
photoelectron spectrometer. The Electron Microscopy Laboratory is also
in Maryland Hall and has a scanning electron microscope with a field emission
source for high resolution imaging and a scanning electron microscope
with energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The scanning probe microscopy facility
includes scanning tunneling microscopes, atomic force microscopes, and
a nanoindenter. The metallography laboratory has polishing facilities
as well as 2 optical microscopes with digital cameras. The Department
maintains a sputter deposition system with dc and magnetron guns, high
temeprature furnaces. Also on campus is the transmission electron microscopy
laboratory which has a new high resolution field emission instrument.
More detailed information on research activities in the department can be found on the home pages of the individual research groups.
