IRG-1 Researchers Professor Nandini Trivedi and her graduate student Tim McCormick, in collaboration with Professor Adam Kaminski (Iowa State University) and Dr. Jiaqiang Yan (ORNL) and their students, discovered a new electronic phase of matter known as a topological Weyl semimetal. This novel quantum phase hosts excitations known as Weyl fermions, first predicted in high energy physics in 1929 but only recently experimentally discovered in quantum materials. Using theoretical modeling and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, the team identified the first type-II Weyl semimetal phase in the layered transition metal compound MoTe2. Type-II Weyl fermions break Lorentz invariance, a symmetry obeyed by all fundamental particles, so Weyl semimetals hosting these excitations allow for the testing of exotic physics beyond the standard model in a tabletop experiment. They possess electron and hole pockets that touch at topologically protected points in momentum space and form Fermi arcs and newly predicted track states on the surface that result in unique magneto-transport properties of these materials. Additionally, the Weyl excitations are robust against external perturbations, providing a resilient platform for possible information storage as well as opening the door for electronic applications. Read the new publication in Nature Materials.
2016 OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Awards Announced
We are pleased to announce that after a thorough internal and external review process, 11 awards have been made to fund exceptionally promising, innovative materials research on campus through the 2016 OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program. These awards total $500,000 in internal research funding to 25 Ohio State researchers from 10 departments in five colleges. The program was able to fund 58% of the proposals submitted this year; 11 out of a total 19. Congratulations to the eleven research teams whose projects were selected this year for seed grant funding.
The 2016 OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program provides internal research funding opportunities through two distinct Funding Tiers designed to achieve the greatest impact for seeding and advancing excellence in materials research of varying scopes.
The OSU Materials Research Seed Grant Program is jointly funded and managed by the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM), the Center for Exploration of Novel Complex Materials (ENCOMM), and the Institute for Materials Research (IMR).
2016 Exploratory Materials Research Grants
Exploratory Materials Research Grants enable nascent and innovative materials research to emerge to the point of being competitive for external funding. Eight Exploratory Materials Research Grants were awarded this year:
- Direct Structural Determination of Individual DNA Molecules Using Electron Nanodiffraction, PI: Jinwoo Hwang, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Investigator: Kichoon Lee, Animal Sciences
- Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth of 2D Ferromagnetic Semiconductors, PI: Roberto Myers, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Investigators: Roland Kawakami, Physics; Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering
- An Integrated Experimental-Computational Approach for Determining the Phonon Mean Free Path Spectrum in Semiconductors, PI: Sandip Mazumder, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Co-Investigator: Marat Khafizov, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Effects of Polymer Adsorption on Dynamics of Model Polymer Nanocomposites for Design of Advanced Tire Tread Compounds, PI: Kurt Koelling, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Co-Investigator: Lisa Hall, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Uncertainty Quantification for Model Selection: Evaluating Material Constitutive Models based on Available Data, PI: Stephen Niezgoda, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Investigator: Oksana Chkrebtii, Statistics
- Development of a Nanoscale Rheology Sensor in a Microphysiological Model of Tumor Stroma, PI: Jonathan Song, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Co-Investigators: Carlos Castro, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Michael Ostrowski, Cancer Biology and Genetics
- Synthesis and Design of Novel Graphyne and Graphdiyne-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks, PI: Psaras McGrier, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- The Effect of Abutment Material on Wear of Internal Engaging Features of Implants under Cyclic Loading, PI: Fengyuan Zheng, Restorative Sciences and Prosthodontics; Co-Investigators: Damian Lee, Restorative Sciences and Prosthodontics; Jinwoo Hwang, Materials Science and Engineering
2016 Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants
Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants form multidisciplinary materials research teams that can compete effectively for federal block-funding opportunities. Three Multidisciplinary Team Building Grants were awarded this year:
- Ultra Wide Band Gap III-Nitride Semiconductor Materials and Devices, PI: Siddharth Rajan, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Co-Investigators: Jinwoo Hwang, Materials Science and Engineering; Aaron Arehart, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Magnetic Dynamics and Excitations in Skyrmions Stabilized by Thin Films and Multilayers, PI: Chris Hammel, Physics; Co-Investigators: Vidya Bhallamudi and Fengyuan Yang, Physics; David McComb, Materials Science and Engineering
- Halide Double Perovskites: A New Class of Lead-free Compound Semiconductors, PI: Patrick Woodward, Chemistry and Biochemistry; Co-Investigators: Joseph Heremans, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Roberto Myers and Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering
Full abstracts are available in this PDF.
URO Spotlight features REU Alumna Njoki Mwangi
2015 URO Spotlight: Njoki Mwangi
Njoki Mwangi is a 4th year in Engineering Physics and her research examines germanane, a two-dimensional material. In her third year, she participated in research experience for undergraduates (REU) run by the Center for Emergent Materials.
3 CEM Participants Receive Recognition
CEM Director Awarded 2016 College of Engineering “Building Bridges” Excellence Award
March 21, 2016
Center for Emergent Materials Director, Dr. P. Chris Hammel, has been awarded the College of Engineering “Building Bridges” Excellence Award. The “Building Bridges” Excellence Award for the College of Engineering was established in 2007. The award is presented each year to a non-COE faculty member at The Ohio State University whose collaborative work with the College of Engineering has advanced the excellence, impact and reputation of both colleges and the University.
Creative Extension Boots Microelectronics Research
February 29, 2016
Leonard Brillson, professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics, has been awarded a rare grant extension from the National Science Foundation to continue his research into microelectronics. The two-year, $380,000 Creativity Extension grant will allow Brillson to continue studying the surfaces and interfaces of semiconductors—the building blocks that drive computers, lasers, televisions and cellphones. The research is helping to create a bridge toward next-generation electronic devices. The Creativity Extension grant offers the most creative investigators an extended opportunity to attack adventurous high-risk opportunities within their general research areas.
Winter Inducted into AIMBE College of Fellows
February 29, 2016
Jessica Winter, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering, has been selected for induction into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. The College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the country and includes the most accomplished and distinguished engineering and medical school chairs, research directors, professors, innovators and entrepreneurs. Winter was selected for her outstanding contributions in biomolecular engineering, particularly the synthesis and development of magnetic quantum dots for cell imaging and separations. Winter was also recently selected by Design News to receive the 2016 Rising Engineering Star award for her work to develop fluorescing nanoparticles for medical diagnosis, imaging and research.
Dr. Jessica Winter Named Design News’ Rising Engineering Star
“Her research may occur at the nanoscale,
but her impact will soon be felt on a global scale.”
(photos from @OSUengineering via Twitter)
Associate Director Dr. Jessica Winter was recently named Design News’ annual Rising Engineering Star at the Golden Mousetrap Awards in Anaheim, California.
Winter was nominated by Matt Schutte, director of communications & engineering healthcare solutions at Ohio State’s College of Engineering. When asked about his decision to nominate Winter, he was quoted as saying she“epitomizes the growing trend of engineers applying their skills to solve healthcare challenges. As a cancer survivor herself, she approaches her research with urgency and empathy, and with a focus on translation — on taking knowledge from the bench to the bedside. Jessica is much more than a professor, she is an entrepreneur, a mentor to dozens of students, an enthusiastic Ohio State engineering ambassador, and a productively impatient researcher who knows she can make a difference.”
Read the full article at Design News.