What is the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Chicago?

Updated

The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Chicago is a research center that conducts innovative materials research to produce design principles for the next generation of materials. It operates shared facilities that support its research and runs educational programs for both the research community and the public.

Research areas

The center organizes its work into several research efforts:

  • Superseed: Electrical-optical quantum transduction — research on converting signals between electrical and optical domains.
  • IRG 2: Activated Architectured Materials — materials whose internal architecture is designed to respond in controlled ways.
  • IRG 1: Trainable Soft Materials — soft materials that can adapt or be "trained."

Shared facilities

MRSEC operates a suite of shared facilities that provide vital support for its research. These facilities serve the center's own projects and the broader research community that depends on them.

Education and outreach

The center runs educational programs aimed at two audiences:

  • For the research community — including postdoctoral fellowship support.
  • For the public and neighborhood — including a Science Club and efforts to broaden participation, such as a PREM partnership with XULA.

Events and news

MRSEC hosts events and publishes news, including the Chicago Materials Research Center Spotlight. Recent items include:

  • Suspensions of Particles with Tunable Shape Memory
  • Room-temperature charge localization in ion-coupled bilayer transistors
  • Epitaxially grown rare-earth spin-photon interfaces enable long-distance quantum network
  • 2026 Physics and Contemporary Architecture Guest Lectures
  • Future-Ready Classrooms: Equipping Educators for Emerging STEM (Teacher Professional Development Workshops)
  • 2025 Physics and Contemporary Architecture Guest Lectures
  • Sarah King among UChicago scientists awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowships in 2025

Who this page is for

If you are looking for a University of Chicago materials science research center — whether to follow its research, use its shared facilities, or take part in its educational and outreach programs — this site is the center's public home.