Center for Materials Innovation

Director, CMI: Stuart Solin

Location: 209 Crow Hall Email: solin@wustl.edu Telephone: (314) 935-9305

The Center for Materials Innovation, (CMI) located in the refurbished basement of Crow Hall, will enable collaborators from across campus to make basic and applied advances in materials research, eventually touching many aspects of daily life. New and improved consumer goods, better planes, vehicles, and electronics, and new biomedical products that could lead to better pharmaceuticals and innovative medical devices are among the objectives of this new, interdisciplinary center housed in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Moreover, the Center brings together researchers, some world-renowned in their fields, to get a better understanding of fundamental processes in nature, such as magnetism, that are the bases for the development of increasingly smaller, more specialized novel materials. Stuart A. Solin, Ph.D., Charles M. Hohenberg Professor of Experimental Physics in Arts & Sciences, is director of the Center for Materials Innovation. William E. Buhro, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, is associate director.

Charter CMI members, who comprised a subcommittee that delved into what was needed to form the center are: Pratim Biswas, Ph.D., Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Science and Director of Environmental Engineering Science; Donald Elbert, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering; Ronald S. Indeck, Ph.D., Das Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering; Kenneth F. Kelton, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences; and Karen Wooley, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences.

The Center initially is funded at more than $10 million from 2003-08. A portion of these funds will be supported by a gift from John F. McDonnell to the University's campaign to endow three new professorships. Two of the professorships will be in Arts & Sciences, the other in Engineering .

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Size matters Technique controls nanoparticle size, creates large numbers Dec. 3, 2007 -- Pratim Biswas has a method that controls the size of the nanoparticles he makes, opening up possibilities for new nanotechnology applications and different techniques. Download In a world that constantly strives for bigger and bigger things, WUSTL's Pratim Biswas, Ph.D., the Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, is working to make things smaller and smaller. Biswas conducts research on nanoparticles, which are the building blocks for nanotechnology. For the first time, Biswas has shown that he can independently control the size of the nanoparticles that he makes, keeping their other properties the same. He's also shown with his technique that the nanoparticles can be made in large quantities in scalable systems, opening up the possibility for more applications and different techniques.

Cloning agents Software agents now in touch via network sensors Nov. 9, 2006 -- Aristo, the Washington University robot, uses sensor networks to avoid simulated "fire" - red cups - while navigating near "safe" areas,which are blue cups. Download Agent 007 is a mighty versatile fellow, but he would have to take backseat to agents being trained at Washington University in St. Louis. Computer scientist engineers here are using wireless sensor networks that employ software agents that so far have been able to navigate a robot safely through a simulated fire and spot a simulated fire by seeking out heat. Once the agent locates the fire, it clones itself - try that, James Bond -- creating a ring of software around the fire. A "fireman" can then communicate with this multifaceted agent through a personal digital assistant (PDA) and learn where the fire is and how intense it is. Should the fire expand, the agents clone again and maintain the ring - an entirely different "ring of fire." More...

Bathing in oxygen Method allows oxygen determination in superconductivity March 1, 2006 -- Nobody completely understands superconductors. So fathom how James S. Schilling, Ph.D., led a team that makes the phenomenon work better. Schilling, a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, collaborated with recent doctoral graduate Takahiro Tomita and scientists at Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory to determine whether one region in superconductors, called grain boundaries (GB), are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen deficiency impairs superconductor performance. The group developed a technique that estimates how much oxygen is present in a critical region of superconductors called grain boundaries. More...

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Faculty Experts:

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Ronald S. Indeck DAS Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering Ron Indeck Download Indeck earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. His research involves magnetic and optical components and systems, especially in the areas of information technology and security. He is working with extremely high density magnetic recording systems, fast searching of massive databases, ... Expertise: object verification, public surveillance, magnetic information storage systems, magnetism Media assistance: (314) 935-5272 / tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu

Pratim Biswas Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor Biswas Biswas received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, has published extensively in his field and served on many international organizations and conferences. His research interests include aerosol science and engineering, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, materials ... Expertise: aerosol science, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, material processing for environmental technologies, environmentally benign processing, environmental nanotechnology, … Direct contact: (314) 935-5482 / pratim.biswas@seas.wustl.edu

William Buhro Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences William Buhro Download William H. Buhro, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and associate director of the Center for Materials Innovation, specializes in nanotechnology. He and his group are engaged in synthesis on the nanometer-scale. They design reactions and mechanisms for the growth of inorganic crystals having dimensions ... Expertise: nanomaterials, materials, inorganic chemistry, nanotubes, nanowires Direct contact: (314) 935-4269 / buhro@wustl.edu

Kenneth F. Kelton Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences Kenneth Kelton is an expert in a phenomenon called nucleation, which is the most common way that physical systems change from one phase to another and is a governing process in nearly all phase transformations. Kelton has a long history of collaboration with Patrick Gibbons, Ph.D., professor of physics ... Expertise: quasicrystals, metallurgy, nucleation processes, metallic liquids, materials science, materials physics, non-crystaline solids, … Direct contact: (314) 935-6228 / kfk@wuphys.wustl.edu

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