When that middle-of-the-night call finally came, it was Alan Heeger’s wife who answered the phone. She turned to him, he recalled, and no sooner had she sleepily announced, “Someone from Sweden is on the line,” than Heeger himself came awake and shouted, “Don’t hang up!” It had been years since his name was first bandied about as a contender for the Nobel Prize. As he... read more »

Four UC Santa Barbara faculty members, three from the Materials Department, have been elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for 2015. Recognized for their “highly prolific spirit of invention,” professors John Bowers (Materials), Craig Hawker (Materials), Umesh Mishra and Galen Stucky (Materials) are among the newest fellows elected by the organization. They... read more »

UCSB Materials welcomed new Associate Professor Daniel Gianola on November 1 to the Structural Materials research group. Prof. Gianola’s research interests span from the nanomechanical behavior of ultra-strong materials to the development of tunable energy conversion materials for applications in structural settings, micro- and nanoelectronics, robust thermal management,... read more »

A new era for advanced materials When UCSB Materials Professors Anton Van der Ven and Tresa Pollock accepted the invitation to the White House for the kickoff of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) in 2012, it was clear that a new era for Advanced Materials had reached the national agenda. In the intervening years, a broad array of federal and industrial programs aimed... read more »

Mari Lou Balmer-Millar, recently named a General Manager in Large Power Systems Division at Caterpillar Inc., spent four years as Caterpillar’s Director of Research and Advanced Engineering in the Product Development & Global Technology division. In that role, she was responsible for the execution and governance of Caterpillar’s technology strategy, overseeing... read more »

Professor Rachel Segalman was recently elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Prof. Segalman was nominated by the Division of Polymer Physics for “pioneering contributions to the understanding of conjugated, polypeptoid, and ion-containing polymers and co-polymers.” To be elected as a Fellow of APS, a candidate must have exceptional contributions to... read more »

On a Saturday morning in early October, the Materials family came together to celebrate the life of Tony Evans in the 4th Annual Tony Evans 5K Memorial Run. Congregating just steps away from the office Tony once occupied, over 100 people prepared to honor his memory and daily practice of running around the lagoon and back through campus. While not everyone present had met... read more »

In June, Professor Christopher Palmstrøm was chosen as a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow (NSSEFF), one of only seven distinguished faculty scientists and engineers, by the Department of Defense (DoD). Significant research support is granted to each fellow and Prof. Palmstrøm will use the grant to study a class of functional materials known as... read more »

Assistant Professor Stephen Wilson, recently named a 2015-2016 Hellman Fellow, will receive support from the Hellman Fellows Fund for new research addressing the role of electronic correlations in transition metal oxides being explored as battery materials.   Prof. Wilson’s current research focuses on materials with complex electronic structure that have promise for... read more »

With a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, UC Santa Barbara materials scientist Stephen D. Wilson is on his way to finding the 21st century’s silicon, a key element used in the semiconductors of today’s electronics. His latest project aims to grow new exotic materials capable of driving technological and scientific advances to new levels. “I was absolutely... read more »

Graduate student Luke Rettbert received an Excellent Poster Award during the closing banquet of the 123HiMAT-Advanced High-Temperature Materials Committee's 1st International Conference, 123HiMAT 2015, held June 29 - July 3 at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.  His poster, titled Rejuvenation of Ni-Based Superalloys René N5(SX) and GTD444(DS), was voted one of the... read more »

Graduate Student Alan Liu was awarded the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2015 Electronic Materials Conference for his presentation, "Record Lifetimes of GaAs Based Lasers Epitaxially Grown on Silicon." Student awards are given annually by the Electronic Materials Committee for the presentations at the EMC Conference. Student papers are judged on scientific content... read more »