About Us
The Materials Research Center (MRC) was first established in 1959 with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funding and has received continual external funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (1959-72) and the National Science Foundation (1973-present), most recently through its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program. The MRC has established a centralized, transdisciplinary infrastructure on campus that enabled more than $800 million in materials research and launched 11 start-up companies based on MRC research. The MRC infrastructure also includes a number of materials-based core facilities, including the Center for Atom Probe Tomography (NUCAPT), X-Ray Diffraction and Materials Deposition Facility (XRD), Materials Characterization & Imaging Facility (MatCI), and the Pulsed Laser Deposition Facility (PLD), which provide world-class experimental and computational capabilities for the broader materials community at and around Northwestern.
In addition to the NSF-MRSEC grant, the MRC also administers several other large center and team science grants, including (1) The Northwestern University/Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS), launched in 2013 through generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as a collaborative endeavor in conservation science that pursues objects-based and objects-inspired materials research. (2) An NSF Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program on development of devices mimicking cerebellar function. (3) A Department of Energy, Energy Frontiers Research Center – Hydrogen in Energy and Information Sciences (HEISs) - initiated in 2023. HEISs aims to elucidate the behavior of hydrogen (protons and hydride ions) in solid state materials and exploit that understanding to enable a wide range of technologies.
Mission
The mission of the MRC is to create the infrastructure and develop programs in materials research, education, and outreach that transform society. The center’s long-term strategic plan includes a continued focus on research excellence and innovation, acquisition of new instrumentation in shared facilities, and support for high-impact programs that strengthen the educational pipeline and broaden the participation of all groups in science and engineering disciplines. Funding is allocated to maximize impact on the production of new knowledge, both fundamental and applied, for the Northwestern research community and society as a whole, and to build on the Center’s national and international reputation in materials research and its broad portfolio of industry, national laboratory, museum, and international collaborations. The interdisciplinary training of early-career scientists (i.e., graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty members) is at the heart of the integrated research and education mission of the Center.