National Science Foundation Funding Creates Interdisciplinary Research Center at Penn State

An interdisciplinary research center, called the Center for Collective Phenomena in Restricted Geometries (CPRG), has been created at Penn State with a five-year commitment of $4.29 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as support from the University.

"The center provides an opportunity for faculty members and graduate students from four different colleges and six departments at Penn State to work together on applications and materials that could have an important impact in fundamental and applied science," said Moses Chan, Evan Pugh Professor of Physics at Penn State and director of the newly established center. "During the proposal process, the commitment and enthusiasm of those involved was obvious. Every college, department, and individual associated with the project has been extremely generous with their support. In particular, we are especially grateful for the help, support, and existing infrastructure provided by the Materials Research Institute (MRI) and its director, Carlo Pantano."

According to the NSF, the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program that funded the center at Penn State allows scientists to "undertake materials research of scope and complexity that would not be feasible under traditional funding of individual research projects." The newly funded center was one of just four selected from an initial pool of almost 100 proposals nationwide that requested NSF support. After its initial five-year funding period, the center could receive continued NSF support through competitive review.

According to Chan, the framework for the center at Penn State was established by the MRI, which represents more than 200 faculty members who already conduct interdisciplinary materials research at Penn State. That existing interdisciplinary effort paved the way for the NSF-funded center.

"Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers are the National Science Foundation's flagship grants for materials and are exceedingly competitive," said MRI director Pantano, professor of materials science and engineering. "This award really attests to the outstanding accomplishments and creativity of the principal investigators. We anticipate that the CPRG will greatly enhance our mission for interdisciplinary education and research by bringing people and ideas together. It's a credit to the researchers involved, and another leadership position for Penn State in the world of materials."

According to the proposal, the center's initial research includes three primary thrusts: tunable photonic materials, fluid phase transitions, and electronic properties of infiltrated metals. Leaders for those respective research groups are: Theresa Mayer, associate professor of electrical engineering; Paul Sokol, professor of physics; and Thomas Mallouk, DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry.

An earlier discovery of "nanobubblepack" materials by a Mallouk-led group set the stage for the CPRG effort at Penn State. With that discovery, researchers were able to create organic porous materials using inorganic materials as a template. Each of the center's three main research thrusts builds upon that discovery in some manner. In addition, previous discoveries by Sridhar Komarneni, professor of agronomy, and David Vaughan , senior scientist at the MRI, have displayed the quality of materials research and the interdisciplinary approach conducted at Penn State.

"The scientific focus of the center is studying condensed mater that is confined to the very small spaces one finds inside porous hosts," Mallouk said. "My group is primarily involved in making these hosts. We also have developed techniques for filling them with metals, superconductors, semiconductors, and polymers."

With its interdisciplinary approach, the center allows room for both applied and fundamental study of materials science. Researchers can focus on the basic physics of how electrons and fluids behave in confined spaces and can work toward potential practical applications.

"Most photonic-bandgap research has focused on fabricating photonic crystals using conventional semiconductor microfabrication and nanofabrication techniques, which generally limit the photonic crystal to two dimensions and rely on costly techniques," said Mayer. "We will investigate low-cost fabrication procedures where the layers of three-dimensional crystals are grown by assembling nanometer-scale silica spheres from a colloidal suspension onto prepatterned semiconductor substrates."

Through that process, and then by filling the templates they create with materials such as ferroelectric copolymers or nonlinear optical nematic liquid crystals, investigators hope to create photonic crystals that can be adjusted to particular wavelengths for use as filters, lasers, and integral parts of the next generation of communication and network systems.

Likewise, research into fluid phase transitions might set the stage for long-range impacts in a variety of applications.

"Our thrust within the CPRG deals with the effects of confinement in porous materials on the fundamental properties of matter," Sokol said. "Understanding these effects is important to technological and biophysical problems such as mining, corrosion inhibition, enzymatic activity, and functions of membranes for food preservation."

Other faculty members involved with the project have academic appointments in the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Earth and Mineral Science, and some also are affiliated with the MRI. Other investigators include: Jayanth Banavar, professor physics; Vincent Crespi, Downsbrough Professor of Physics; Peter Eklund, professor of physics; Iam-Choon Khoo, professor of electrical engineering; Sanat Kumar, professor of materials science and engineering; Karl Mueller, associate professor of chemistry; and Qiming Zhang, associate professor of electrical engineering.

Educational opportunities for graduate students represent another benefit to Penn State from the center. In its first year alone, the CPRG will serve 15 graduate students. According to Chan, the chance to work in a setting that stresses interdisciplinary work should benefit both the students and the center.

"We think it represents a unique opportunity for graduate students to work in a setting that can offer so much," Chan said. "We will be looking for students who want an exposure to many different aspects of materials research."

With the NSF-funded research center, Penn State plans to construct a central laboratory and theory center for those involved in the project. The project features ambitious goals for the inclusion of minorities and women as well as education and outreach efforts to the general public. In addition, there are plans for interaction with industry partners and national laboratories.

"We're very excited about both the national reach and local impact of our educational and outreach activities," said Crespi. "It's been especially helpful to work with Paul Hallacher in setting up alliances with science museums such as the Franklin Institute and programs for local high-school teachers. Without his help, a lot of this would not have been possible."

In the long term, Penn State's potential industrial partners for the center could benefit from new technology ranging from gas separation and storage to the development of components that would improve the capabilities of fiber-optic networks.

"This project provides a prime example of the University's goal to be first in the nation for the integration of education, research, and service," said Eva Pell, the University's Vice President for Research. "The Penn State CPRG will help advance the goals of the University and the goals of the National Science Foundation by fostering an integration of education and research. It will provide undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to advance knowledge and learn together with faculty members in a fundamentally important area of materials science that spans traditional disciplines."