Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Faculty in the MSE department at Iowa State University have developed

• a better cooling agent for refrigerators that uses the properties of metals rather than harmful chemicals,
• new ceramic materials for bone implants and unique glass fibers for laser surgery (recently discovered the second-hardest material), and
• are well on their way to creating materials for the next generation of fuel cells to replace the gas engine that runs your car.

Projects and Publications

• Projects by research group
• Publications by research group
• Funding and expenditures overview
  

Focus Areas

• Specialties
• Research groups
  • Biopolymers and Biocomposites Research Team
    
  • Functional Polymeric Nanocomposites
    
  • Glass and optical materials
  • Scanning electron microscopy
  • Solidification & Crystal-Melt Interfaces
  • Polymer Composites

Laboratories

• Computer labs
• Research and teaching labs
• Equipment use and cost
  

Centers 

MSE faculty are strongly affiliated with Ames Laboratory (USDOE) as well as the following centers that are part of a network of research centers known as the Institute for Physical Research and Technology or IPRT:

• Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE)
• Materials Preparation Center (MPC)
• Microelectronics Research Center (MRC)
• Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC)
  

Other centers MSE faculty have many affiliations with include the following:

• Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS)
• Center for Transporation Research and Education (CTRE)
• Institute for Combinatorial Discovery (ICD)

• Materials Analysis and Research Laboratory (MARL)