After decades nurturing future leaders in science and engineering, in 2010, Fiona Goodchild founded the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP) at UC Santa Barbara. The center in 2022 announced a new mentor leadership program and now, its first graduate fellow, Allison Chau, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Materials Department.   “A mentor opens... read more »

Congratulations to Professor Chris Palmstrøm on his election to the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the pinnacles of the profession. His indispensable expertise in using molecular beam epitaxy to control the growth and the interface structure and chemistry of dissimilar materials has led to the creation of many novel materials... read more »

November 9, 2022 Forseeing Failure Researchers develop a way to predict the failure of solid metal materials from the first stage of cyclic stress (Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Take a wire paperclip. Now, bend it back and forth in the same spot 15, maybe 20 times. Chances are the paperclip will have broken before you finish. This is due to what’s called metal... read more »

UCSB Materials welcomes Assistant Professor Ananya Renuka Balakrishna starting on November 1, 2022. Dr. Renuka Balakrishna’s research investigates the delicate interplay between atomic scale crystallographic changes and the continuum scale microstructural evolution that shapes physical properties of phase transformation materials. She develops and applies physics-based... read more »

Functional materials, the kind that make up things like semiconductors, catalysts, photovoltaics, or batteries, don’t always arrive on schedule. In fact, they rarely do, according to a new paper in one of the inaugural issues of the journal Nature Synthesis. A funding agency can supply the dollars to conduct the research, and the research can get done, possibly creating a... read more »

Materials Ph.D. Student Lauren Poole was recognized with an APS Early Career Speaker Award for her presentation at the 2022 Biennial APS meeting on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter. The meeting was held in Anaheim, CA from July 10 to July 15. Lauren’s talk was entitled “Dynamic mechanical behavior of co-continuous metal composites". Lauren is a PhD student in... read more »

Rachel Segalman, professor and chair of UC Santa Barbara’s Chemical Engineering Department, recently received a memorable phone call. The caller identification on her cellular phone read “DOE,” standing for the Department of Energy, which piqued the interest and nerves of the Edward Noble Kramer Professor. “I answered the call with trepidation, because I had a DOE... read more »

In its new ranking of leading graduate and professional programs at American universities, U.S. News & World Report magazine has rated two of UC Santa Barbara’s programs among the top 10 in the nation. In the 2023 U.S. News list of “Best Graduate Schools,” UC Santa Barbara’s materials program is ranked No. 2 among public institutions and No. 5 overall. The chemical... read more »

John Harter, an assistant professor of materials at UC Santa Barbara, has received an Early CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the highest honor given by the foundation to junior faculty. Harter will receive more than $715,000 over five years in support of his cutting-edge research in quantum materials science and educational... read more »

Materials assistant professors Angela Pitenis and Raphaële Clément are the latest UC Santa Barbara engineering junior faculty to receive Early CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award is regarded as the NSF’s most prestigious award for assistant professors and recognition that they are effectively integrating... read more »

UC Santa Barbara Materials welcomes Assistant Professor Sriram Krishnamoorthy to the Department. Professor Sriram Krishnamoorthy is an inaugural recipient of the Mehrabian Career Development Chair.  The Mehrabian Career Development Chairs are endowed chairs in the College of Engineering that recognize early career faculty who are rising stars in their field. Dr.... read more »