Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation funding renewed
Materials Research Institute
An integrated research facilities turns product to prototype
Californians do not purchase electric vehicles because they are cool, they buy EVs because they live in a warm climate. Conventional lithium-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but now a team of Penn State engineers has created a battery that can self-heat, allowing rapid charging regardless of the outside chill.
By Walt Mills
For the first time, researchers have created a nanocomposite of ceramics with a two-dimensional material that opens the door to new designs of nanocomposites with a variety of applications, such as solid-state batteries thermoelectrics, varistors, catalysts, chemical sensors and much more.
In the latest issue of Focus on Materials, the boundaries between materials science, engineering, and the life sciences are blurring. We offer a glimpse into the fascinating world of “convergence,” where the future of healthcare lies.
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Understanding the function of bio-systems (e.g., cells and tissues) and their interaction with exogenous compounds requires the ability to visualize spatial distribution of the biomolecules (e.g., lipids, small metabolites) and compounds at subcellular resolution. However, the routine laboratory assays are largely done by bulk analysis on extraction from dissociated cells and tissues, in which the spatial distribution is lost. We have been developing cluster ToF-SIMS to map the chemistry on the frozen-hydrated biological samples with high resolution (< 1µm) and mass range up to m/z 5000. This recent development opens new opportunities for multi-omics, cell heterogeneity and disease mark and target, leading to the further understanding of disease progress and new treatment development.
Shifting Landscapes: Collaborative Archaeology in Southwest Madagascar
Since 2011 the Morombe Archaeological Project has undertaken archaeological survey, excavation and oral history recording in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area of southwest Madagascar. The project’s aims are to investigate diachronic human-environment dynamics and refine our understanding of the region’s settlement history by leveraging multiple scientific techniques and the collective historical and socio-ecological knowledge base of Velondriake’s living communities. In this presentation I describe the outcomes of the project’s approach to integrate diverse community members and collective knowledge in all aspects of the research and promote this approach as necessary for understanding the region’s rapidly shifting landscapes.
Penn State’s investment in its interdisciplinary research institutes, including the Materials Research Institute (MRI), has created a culture of strong collaborations across disciplines. At Penn State, many researchers have the support of both their academic departments and the university-wide institutes, such as MRI. By encouraging crosscutting research, MRI and its sister institutes open up traditional silos of knowledge to the stimulus of other viewpoints and new ideas. This mingling of disciplines, often called “convergence,” brings together the physical and life sciences with engineering and computation to solve the most complex problems facing society today and in the future.
2DLM
ICAT
ATOMIC
CIMP-3D
Energy Institute
HESE
CNS MRSEC
PSIEE
Institute for Cyberscience
CDP
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