MRI

By Jamie Oberdick

By Jamie Oberdick

Six Penn State materials researchers have received the 2024 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award, recognizing a wide range of research with societal impact. The award is presented by the Materials Research Institute (MRI) and recognizes recent interdisciplinary materials research at Penn State that yields innovative and unexpected results.   

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – As the managing director for Penn State's Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU), Zachary Gray spends a lot of his summer in the classroom. He works to teach veterans and students how to work at microscopic scales as part of a 12-week course — the same one that shifted his career path almost two decades ago. 

Fired by philanthropy, a new kind of glass holds promise for the future

China recently limited the export of gallium nitride, a type of semiconductor used to manufacture a variety of consumer power electronics, such as cellphones and computers, as well as medical devices, cars, wind turbines, solar farms, LED lightbulbs and more.

A simple biomaterial-based strategy that can influence the behavior of cells could pave the way for more effective medical treatments such as wound healing, cancer therapy and even organ regeneration, according to a research team at Penn State.

Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan. Microplastics have been detected in human brains, the bellies of sea turtles and the roots of plants. Now, new research led by Penn State scientists reveals that microplastics in the atmosphere could be affecting weather and climate.