2015 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Two UCSB Professors Receive Early Career Research Awards

The Department of Energy’s award for young scientists acknowledges UC Santa Barbara’s standing as a top tier research institution.

Harrison Receives Grant for Phosphate Biosensor Research

Professor Maria Harrison of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, an affiliate of Cornell University, has received part of a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Energy to support the development of biosensors to track and measure the movement of phosphate from soil fungi into plant cells in real time.

Novel Crumpling Method Takes Flat Graphene From 2D to 3D

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a unique single-step process to achieve three-dimensional (3D) texturing of graphene and graphite.

Engineering the Smallest Crack in the World

A new procedure developed by nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego will enable researchers to fabricate smaller, faster, and more powerful nanoscale devices ─ and do so with molecular control and precision.

Study at UC Davis Shows Rice Can “Borrow” Stronger Immunity From Other Plant Species

Like most other plants, rice is well equipped with an effective immune system that enables it to detect and fend off disease-causing microbes. But that built-in immunity can be further boosted when the rice plant receives a receptor protein from a completely different plant species.

Drexel Materials Research Could Unlock Potential of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Drexel researchers, along with colleagues at Aix-Marseille University in France, have discovered a high performance cathode material with great promise for use in next generation lithium-sulfur batteries that could one day be used to power mobile devices and electric cars.

New Solder for Semiconductors Creates Technological Possibilities

A research team led by the University of Chicago’s Dmitri Talapin has demonstrated how semiconductors can be soldered and still deliver good electronic performance.

New Analysis at MIT Shows Ion Slowdown in Fuel Cell Material

Dislocations in oxides seen as promising electrolytes create a “traffic jam” for charged ions.

Frustrated Magnets – New Experiment Reveals Clues to their Discontent

An experiment conducted by Princeton researchers has revealed an unlikely behavior in a class of materials called frustrated magnets, addressing a long-debated question about the nature of these discontented quantum materials.

University Researchers Apply Quantum Information Science to Physics

By applying knowledge from quantum information science to physics, scientists can find new and precise ways to deal with ongoing challenges facing science, according to a January report co-authored by university researchers.

Mesoscale Science Research Highlighted on Materials Journal Cover

The work at Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage – an Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Maryland – has been featured in the journal, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science.

Hot Spots, Cold Spots: When Temperature Goes Quantum

A University of Arizona led collaboration of physicists and chemists has discovered that temperature behaves in strange and unexpected ways in graphene.