National Science Foundation

MRSEC.ORG

University of Minnesota

Institute of Technology

IRG 1 IRG 2 IRG 3 IRG 4 Seed E&HR Shared Facilities
- ORG Chart
- Contact Information
- Research Home
- IRG-1
- IRG-2
- IRG-3
- IRG-4
- Seed Projects
-Highlights
- News
- Publications-All
- IRG-1
- IRG-2
- IRG-3
- IRG-4
- Seed
- Patents
- E & HR Home
- Summer Research
   Home

- REU
- RET
- Faculty-Student
  Teams

- Native American
   Fellowships

- 2009 Participants
- Summer Info
- Summer Calendar
- Supply Fund Policy
- SURE Home
- Info for Presenters
- Facilities Home
- IT Characterization   Facility
- NanoFabrication Center
- Polymer   Characterization Facility
- Polymer Synthesis
   Facility

- Mass Spectrometry
- NMR Lab
- X-ray Crystallographic
  Laboratory

- Tissue Mechanics Lab
- Surface Analysis Center
- Materials Research   Facilities Network
- Capital Equipment
   Purchasing

- How To Acknowledge
   MRSEC

- Biomedical Engineering
- Chemical Engineering   & Materials Science
- Chemistry
- Electrical & Computer   Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Pharmaceutics
- Physics
- IGERT
- ITAMIT
- VLab
- American Vacuum   Society
- American Physical   Society
- American Ceramic
   Society

- Materials Research   Society
- American Chemical   Society
- National Society of   Black Physicists
- MRSEC.org
- NSF.gov

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

This multifaceted MRSEC enables important areas of future technology, ranging from biomedicine, separations, and plastic electronics to security, renewable energy, and information technology. The UMN MRSEC manages an extensive program in education and career development. Center research activities are integrated with educational programs, providing interdisciplinary training of students and postdocs. The MRSEC is bolstered by a broad complement of over 35 companies that contribute directly to IRG research through intellectual, technological, and financial support. International research collaborations and student exchanges are pursued with leading research labs in Asia and Europe. The UMN MRSEC benefits from an extensive suite of materials synthesis, characterization and computational facilities.


Highlights

IRG 3 Highlight Image

IRG 3 Research Highlight:
Phase-Locking of Spin Transfer Torque Oscillators

Spin waves are the magnetic analog of acoustic or light waves, and they have frequencies in the microwave regime. This work by IRG-3 student Xi Chen explored the microscopic mechanism by which two nanometer scale oscillators canlocktogether, resulting in an enhancement of their output power. Chen calculated the pattern of spin waves generated by two phase-locked spin transfer torque oscillators. The pattern is somewhat like the ripples generated by two rocks thrown in a pond, except that the pond is a region of ferromagnetic film less than 250 nm in diameter and the ripples propagate with a frequency of tens of gigahertz.   Read More

View all MRSEC highlights


Magnetics day image

Education Highlight:
Magnetics Day - Magnetism in Technology

Three PI's (Paul Crowell, Dan Dahlberg, Chris Leighton) and four graduate students (Mike Erickson, Mike Manno, Greg McKusky, and Tanner Schulz) organized a day of activities including hands-on demos in the morning, a lunch with recent PhD graduates in industry, and an afternoon of projects. The participants were high school students in the Institute of Technology Center for Education Programs (ITCEP) Exploring Careers in Science & Engineering summer camp.   Read More

View all MRSEC highlights


News and Events

Tim Lodge

Tim Lodge (IRG 1) Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

As part of the Chemistry Section of the AAAS, Tim Lodge was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of polymer science, especially in polymer dynamics and in the phase behavior of block copolymers.   Read More

View all MRSEC News