MSE Research Areas

University of Michigan: Because the world needs breakthrough engineering

Increasingly materials scientists and engineers focus on the control of atomic scale structure to tailor material properties for desired functionality and applications. This focus has pushed our discipline to the forefront of developing and applying new tools to observe and manipulate matter at the smallest scales. In recent years, computational tools have been developed to guide the experiments to accelerate the discovery, design and development of advanced materials.

The strength of the materials research program at the University of Michigan is in its diversity. Our faculty are engaged in state-of-the-art research covering a broad spectrum of activities with the common goal of improving how materials are utilized and manufactured to improve the quality of life in the 21st century.

Our expertise spans the complete spectrum of advanced engineering material systems comprised of semiconductors, polymers, bio-materials, metals, and ceramics in the form of nanostructured, composite, thin film or bulk materials for applications in energy, transportation, defense, electronics and communications, sustainability, biomedical and consumer products. The research paradigm involves integration of processing, characterization and theory/computation.

To learn more about the currently active research projects and browse through publications, please visit the research group pages of the individual faculty.

Diagram illustrating three categories of materials and associated disciplines, showing structural, inorganic functional, and organic functional materials, with cross-cutting activities in manufacturing, measuring, and modeling.

The research activities are sorted by primary focus on i) Functional Materials (electronic, optoelectronic, optical, magnetic, biological, chemical function), and ii) Structural Materials (load-bearing applications including extreme environments such as high-temperatures and irradiation).

Inorganic Functional Materials
Organic Functional Materials
Structural Materials
* indicates computational faculty
Ageeth Bol
Neil Dasgupta
Stephen Forest
Vikram Gavini*
Rachel Goldman
John Heron
Robert Hovden
Manos Kioupakis*
Nick Kotov
Joerg Lahann
Rick Laine
Yiyang Li
Rebecca Lindsey
Wei Lu (EECS)
Wei Lu (ME)
Becky Peterson
Pierre Ferdinand Poudeu
Pramod Reddy
Wenhao Sun*
Katsuyo Thornton*
Venkat Viswanathan*
Steve Yalisove
Y Z*
Stephen Forest
Sharon Glotzer*
Robert Hovden
John Kieffer*
Nick Kotov
Jinsang Kim
Joerg Lahann
Rebecca Lindsey
Brian Love
Geeta Mehta
Abdon Pena-Francesch
Pramod Reddy
Max Shtein
Anish Tuteja
Y Z*
John Allison
Ashley Bucsek
Vikram Gavini*
Jerard Gordon*
Elizabeth Holm*
Emmanuelle Marquis
Amit Misra
Liang Qi*
Stephen Raiman
Ashwin Shahani
Alan Taub
Katsuyo Thornton*
Lumin Wang
Y Z*

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