Materials Science and Engineering

Michael Short, assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT

Exelon Generation supports research on advanced nuclear fuel cladding coatings

Exelon Generation funding for the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems could transform the performance of the fuel cladding in light water reactors.

April 19, 2017

Katy Olesnavage of MIT is a $15,000 Lemelson-MIT “Cure it!” Graduate Winner for her method to design a better prosthetic foot.

Collegiate inventors awarded 2017 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize

Students recognized for inventive solutions to challenges in health care, transportation, food and agriculture, and consumer devices.

April 19, 2017

Zhu Zhenqi (left), president of ENN Energy Research Institute, and Robert Armstrong, director of the MIT Energy Initiative, sign the agreement for ENN's membership in MITEI's Center for Energy Storage Research.

ENN Group becomes MIT Energy Initiative member to advance energy storage technologies

ENN Group, one of China’s largest private energy companies, will join MITEI’s Center for Energy Storage Research.

April 13, 2017

Polina Anikeeva, the Class of 1942 Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, is training for her third Boston Marathon. She has participated in others around the country, including at Disney World in Orlando. She ran that marathon as Tinkerbell.

The sanity of the long-distance runner

Associate Professor Polina Anikeeva, in preparing for the Boston Marathon, shares her love of running.

April 13, 2017

Researchers may have determined why fairly brittle electrode materials in batteries don’t crack under the strain of expansion and contraction cycles when they are used and recharged.

How some battery materials expand without cracking

Brittle electrodes handle expansion by going glassy, study shows.

April 12, 2017

Researchers have found a way to make tiny particles that can be injected into the body, where they emit short-wave infrared light. The advance may open up a new way of making detailed images of internal body structures such as fine networks of blood vessels.

Nanoparticles open new window for biological imaging

“Quantum dots” that emit infrared light enable highly detailed images of internal body structures.

April 10, 2017

Tata Center students and staff pose with Ratan Tata (center-right), chair of the Tata Trusts.

Tata Center adds 14 new projects to its portfolio for 2017-18

MIT principal investigators will apply cutting-edge research to the challenges of the developing world, seeking a large-scale impact.

April 7, 2017

As part of a $35 million materials science discovery program, The Toyota Research Institute will support three MIT-affiliated projects directed at advancing technologies that underpin the future of mobility and autonomous systems and energy storage, such as rechargeable batteries used in hybrid and electric cars.

Multi-university effort will advance materials, define the future of mobility

With support from the Toyota Research Institute, MIT faculty will focus on next-generation energy storage.

April 3, 2017

Researchers have developed a rubber-like fiber, shown here, that can flex and stretch while simultaneously delivering both optical impulses, for optoelectronic stimulation, and electrical connections, for stimulation and monitoring.

Stretching the boundaries of neural implants

Rubbery, multifunctional fibers could be used to study spinal cord neurons and potentially restore function.

March 31, 2017

MIT graduate programs earn top marks from US News

Graduate engineering and economics programs are No. 1 in the nation; MIT Sloan is No. 4.

March 14, 2017

Researchers have developed a type of steel with three characteristics that help it resist microcracks that lead to fatigue failure: a layered nanostructure, a mixture of microstructural phases with different degrees of hardness, and a metastable composition. They compared samples of metal with just one or two of these key attributes (top left, top right, and bottom left) and with all three (bottom...

Conquering metal fatigue

Novel laminated nanostructure gives steel bone-like resistance to fracturing under repeated stress.

March 9, 2017

Kyocera Professor of Materials Science and Engineering ‪Yet-Ming Chiang (left), is working with MIT senior Harry Thaman (center) and postdoc Linsen Li to study a new kind of electrolyte for “self-healing” lithium battery cells, which will be formed by adding a halide element such as iodine.

Iodine may protect batteries

MIT, Carnegie Mellon researchers explore “self-healing” batteries with new metal-halide solid electrolyte material.

March 8, 2017

MIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2017 QS World University Rankings

MIT ranked within the top 5 for 19 of 46 subject areas.

March 8, 2017

Mild heating of graphene oxide sheets makes it possible to bond particular compounds to the sheets’ surface, a new study shows. These compounds in turn select and bond with specific molecules of interest, including DNA and proteins, or even whole cells. In this image the treated graphene oxide on the right is nearly twice as efficient at capturing cells as the untreated material on the left.

Graphene sheets capture cells efficiently

New method could enable pinpoint diagnostics on individual blood cells.

March 3, 2017

A new MIT transmitter that measures dopamine overcomes limitations of earlier transmitters, providing accurate readings for longer periods of time and covering more of the brain.

Precise technique tracks dopamine in the brain

New sensor could reveal the neurotransmitter’s role in learning and habit formation.