…an NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center located at the University of California, San Diego

UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, a renewed six-year $18M grant from the NSF, is a joint initiative between the Jacobs School of Engineering and the School of Physical Sciences. Research efforts are conducted within two Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs):

1) Quantum Metamaterials – transcends the boundaries of conventional optics by creating a novel class of materials known as quantum metamaterials.
2) Chemical Superlattices – harnesses the power of synthetic chemistry to design a new class of electronic materials that are only a few atoms thick. 

This new grant brings together physicists, chemists, materials scientists and engineers to collaborate on quantum materials. Read more on the News page of our website with links to UC San Diego and NSF press releases.

Please note that the research/IRGs on the website applies to current grant cycle, the 2020 MRSEC. The 2026-2032 MRSEC research info will be updated at the start of new funding cycle, September 1, 2026. 

 

Predictive AssemblyPredictive Assembly: Interdisciplinary Research Group 1 (IRG1) couples computational design with materials synthesis to identify new ways to assemble meso-scale materials. The IRG deploys state-of-the-art computational tools to map the energy landscape around nano-scale building blocks. By exploring the mesophase space around these building blocks, the IRG is able to rationally design them such that they will self-assemble into larger, meso-scale structures with pre-determined properties. The IRG then characterizes the resulting properties, feeding these results back into the computational models to iteratively design the optimal mesostructure. These meso-scale materials are of interest for a wide range of optical, medical, energy storage, and quantum device applications.

Living Materials

Engineered Living Materials: Interdisciplinary Research Group 2 (IRG 2) develops techniques that enable the creation of materials at the living/non-living interface.  The IRG incorporates living systems (such as bacteria and algae) into polymeric hosts, in order to impart new properties to the polymers, such as the ability to self-heal after damage, or to move or flex in response to external stimuli.  These systems have potential uses as micro-scale chemical factories to synthesize new therapeutic drugs, in biosynthetic electronics, in decontamination of environmental toxins, as reporters to indicate the health of crops, and in soft robotics—among many other applications.

Group illustrationThe MRSEC faculty are experts in their research and education domains with established track records of participation in multi-investigator projects. The team includes assistant, mid-career, and senior faculty.