Summer 2001 -- Vol. 18, No. 2

Materials Research Institute Serves to Support, Unify People,
Centers, and Programs at Penn State

While geographically located on the eastern edge of campus in Innovation Park, the Materials Research Institute rests firmly in the center of the materials-science community at Penn State.

As a home and resource for more than 250 scientists on campus, the institute brings together researchers and theorists from the Eberly College of Science as well as their colleagues from numerous colleges on campus and within the Penn State system.

As much as quality materials science relies on breaking things down and studying their smallest parts to understand how they function, the MRI works to bring all the pieces of the University’s materials-science puzzle together. At Penn State, administrators and faculty members alike acknowledge and appreciate the impact of the MRI.

“The MRI has done a tremendous amount to facilitate collaboration among the materials community, which is split among a number of administrative lines, departments, and colleges,” says Paul Hallacher, director of research program development for Penn State. Charged with providing support for researchers putting together interdisciplinary grant proposals, Hallacher works closely with faculty members and also sees the workings of academic departments and the MRI somewhat from the outside. “One of the strengths of the MRI, and its director, Carlo Pantano, has been in terms of consensus building. That’s vital in promoting collaborative initiatives.”

Recent grants from the National Science Foundation helped fund interdisciplinary projects such as the Center for Collective Phenomena in Restricted Geometries ($4.29 million) and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training program ($2.5 million)—and support from the MRI was vital to both projects, according to Hallacher. Specifically, while individual departments contribute much to materials research at Penn State, the MRI serves to present a common face for Penn State materials research to those on the outside. Its role was further solidified in November 2000 when the Board of Trustees voted to combine the MRI with other materials programs at the University effective 1 July 2001. That move put Penn State’s materials research under one broad umbrella. Having the MRI as a central home for such research, in addition to the willingness of those involved to collaborate, enhances research success, positive perceptions outside the University, and funding opportunities.

The MRI helps Penn State maintain its reputation as one of the best materials-science research institutions in the nation. According to Pantano, the diversity of materials research conducted on campus and the diversity of those involved—who, despite their differences in research methods, all share a common goal—provide additional reasons for the University’s strong reputation in the field.

“We have a big menu. We have big centers, little centers, and faculty members working with their own groups,” Pantano says. “We have a place for any faculty member or graduate student who wants to do materials research. We want to maintain an environment that can adapt to the needs and interests of any graduate student, faculty member, or center.”

While that diversity could lead to disorientation, the MRI works to ensure that it does not.

“Thanks to Carlo, the MRI is kind of the glue that knits us all together,” said Tom Mallouk, DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry. “Everyone gets an opportunity to interact with everyone else and we’re aware of what’s going on even though we all have our own research goals.”

Also, because funding agencies such as NSF have changed their preferred research model in recent years—moving away from single investigators to interdisciplinary groups—a consortium such as the MRI fills an important role by building on the University’s traditional strengths in materials science, such as ceramics and polymers, and diversifying to emerging fields, such as chemistry and physics in regard to nanoscale structures. It provides both a means to coordinate and fund interdisciplinary efforts and a forum for the scientists themselves to interact.

“There is a lot of value to being at a place with people who have many different interests in materials,” says Nitin Samarth, associate professor of physics. “Interacting with others and studying different aspects of materials science gives you a lot of different ways of looking at problems. That’s the kind of approach that leads to good science.”

-- By Steve Sampsell

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