UPenn Receives $22.6M for Materials Science Research

Researchers within the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) at the University of Pennsylvania have been conducting breakthroughs in the field of materials science since it opened in 1961. A leading center within the LRSM that helps with this breakthrough research, the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), was recently awarded a $22.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will support materials research at UPenn over the next six years. (Image courtesy of WestCoastivieS via Wikimedia Commons)

Scientists at the MRSEC in Philadelphia work in collaborative groups comprised of faculty, post-docs, and grad students from nine different campus departments. The researchers in these teams have access to the different facilities and educational opportunities offered throughout the center. The NSF has a limit of no more than 3 interdisciplinary groups within the MRSEC. UPenn has the maximum three teams that will be using this grant to conduct research in the following three areas:

1. Rearrangements & Softness in Disordered Solids
2. Structural Chemo-Mechanics of Fibrous Materials
3. Pluperfect Nanocrystal Architects 

Arjun Yodh, director of the UPenn LRSM explained that: "Our research projects identify and tackle big, new problems in materials science. These problems are generally multi-faceted and are too difficult for individuals or small teams to solve. Our new activities will require collaborations between chemists; physicists; chemical, electrical and mechanical engineers; materials scientists; bioengineers; biologists; and medical researchers."

The MRSEC at the University of Pennsylvania was one of eight materials science research centers in the United States granted awards of this type by the NSF. Other universities receiving awards include theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Cornell University, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

This recent NSF grant is a small portion of the total funding the University of Pennsylvania receives each year. In the 2016 fiscal year, UPenn received more than $478.8 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health alone, along with additional grants from other public and private donors. This funding helps the university establish new research centers and buildings, and help support ongoing life science research. Departments at UPenn benefiting from this NIH funding include:

1. Internal Medicine/Medicine - $98.3 million
2. Pathology - $41.9 million
3. Pharmacology - $33.5 million
4. Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology - $21.7 million
5. Biostatistics and Other Mathematical Sciences - $21.1 million

The University of Pennsylvania is a thriving life science research marketplace with millions of dollars in funding o support ongoing research and establish new buildings and centers. All of this funding makes UPenn an excellent place to market life science lab products to researchers. Lab suppliers interested in selling lab products to UPenn researchers are encouraged to attendthe upcoming 19^th Annual BioResearch Product Faire^TM Event at UPenn on May 10^th, 2018. This annual event brings together over 250 active researchers with science supply vendors, providing a convenient opportunity for researchers to find the best and newest products and technologies to use in their labs. 

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