Princeton Center for Complex Materials

非技术描述：普林斯顿大学的材料研究科学与工程中心（MRSEC）是一个蓬勃发展的研究中心和教育推广资源，为校园，当地社区和大西洋中部地区提供服务。该研究集中在两个关键的基础科学领域，这些领域是创造新量子技术和生物启发材料的基础。拓扑量子材料的发展对于催化下一代传感、计算和通信量子技术至关重要。这些技术的应用将对未来几十年的国家安全、工业竞争力和劳动力发展产生广泛影响。该MRSEC的研究将通过桥接材料科学和生物学或软物质，奠定生命材料科学领域的基础。建立这一新领域将导致生物技术的进步，以及许多其他依赖于使用聚合物，凝胶，胶体，生物膜和其他软材料的纳米技术的行业。培养下一代世界级的材料科学家，并与更广泛的社区分享他们的研究兴奋是这个MRSEC的使命的基本支柱。将代表性不足的少数群体、妇女和残疾人纳入其中是其所有研究、教育和外联活动的一个关键优先事项。此外，普林斯顿MRSEC利用其丰富的机构资源和设施，鼓励与更广泛的研究界合作，包括工业合作伙伴，他们不仅提供利益相关者的见解，而且还提供学术界以外的劳动力发展机会。外展活动是受欢迎的和有意义的机会，让公众，学校教师和所有年龄段的学生参与进来，激发他们对周围世界材料科学的热情和欣赏。技术描述：普林斯顿MRSEC正在进行的独特研究解决了NSF的Big Ideas提出的一些最令人兴奋的主题。IRG-1团队专注于发现各种新量子材料中的新型电子效应，从自旋液体系统到新型2-D系统及其扭曲堆叠，以及各种超导和非对称材料。该团队在机器学习技术与拓扑量子化学相结合的应用指导下搜索和合成新的拓扑材料-采用NSF的大创意“量子飞跃”。IRG-2团队正在揭示细胞如何使用大分子发挥功能的新见解，同时也将这些见解用于设计具有高度可调特性的新型响应材料系统。他们的研究有助于在生物学、化学、工程学和物理学的界面上为“生命”材料科学的新领域奠定基础-解决NSF的大创意“生命规则”和“NSF 2026”。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nontechnical Description: The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Princeton University is a thriving research center and educational outreach resource that serves the campus, local community, and the greater mid-Atlantic region. The research is focused on two key fundamental areas of science that underlies creating new quantum technologies and biology-inspired materials. The development of topological quantum materials is crucial for catalyzing next-generation quantum technologies for sensing, computing, and communicating. The application of such technologies will have wide-ranging implications for national security, industrial competitiveness, and workforce development for decades to come. This MRSEC's research will lay the foundations of the field of living materials science by bridging materials science and biology or soft matter. Establishing this new field will lead to advances in biotechnology, as well as many other industries reliant on nanotechnology using polymers, gels, colloids, biofilms, and other soft materials. Training the next generation of world-class materials scientists, and sharing the excitement of their research with the broader community are fundamental pillars of this MRSEC’s mission. The inclusion of underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities is a key priority embedded in all its research, education and outreach activities. Moreover, the Princeton MRSEC leverages its substantial institutional resources and facilities to encourage collaborations with the broader research community, including industrial partners who not only provide stakeholder insights, but also opportunities for workforce development beyond academia. Outreach activities are popular and meaningful opportunities to engage the general public, school teachers, and students of all ages, and spark their enthusiasm and appreciation for materials science in the world around them.Technical Description: The unique research underway at the Princeton MRSEC addresses some of the most exciting topics posed by the NSF’s Big Ideas. The IRG-1 team is focused on uncovering novel electronic effects in a wide range of new quantum materials, from spin liquid systems, to novel 2-D systems and their twisted stacks, and various superconducting and non-symmorphic materials. The team searches for and synthesizes new topological materials guided by the application of machine learning techniques combined with topological quantum chemistry — taking on the NSF’s Big Idea “The Quantum Leap.” The IRG-2 team is uncovering new insights into how cells use macromolecules to function, while also using these insights toward the design of new responsive materials systems with highly tunable properties. Their research is helping to lay the foundation for a new field of “living” materials science at the interface of biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics — addressing the NSF’s Big Ideas “The Rules of Life” and "NSF2026".This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.