University of Delaware MRSEC - Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (CHARM)

摘要：特拉华大学材料研究科学与工程中心（UD MRSEC）是一个拥有丰富科学机会的网络，涵盖特拉华大学和几个战略外部学术和国家实验室合作伙伴关系，包括宾夕法尼亚大学和美国国家标准与技术研究院（NIST）。该中心也被称为UD混合，活性和响应材料中心（UD CHARM），该中心通过理论和计算预测与尖端实验相结合，推动对新材料的基础理解，以实现非常规，超小型构建块的集成。一个跨学科研究小组（IRG）的目标是创造新的受生物启发的有机材料，这些材料具有纳米级机器的功能。第二个IRG的目标是创造混合无机量子材料，使新的光电电路/器件和精确控制电磁辐射成为可能。有了这两个IRGs的基本方法，预计材料科学将取得革命性的进步，从而在生物医学、安全、传感、适应性材料和软机器人方面实现关键创新。特拉华大学与许多主要合作机构和行业利益相关者的地理位置接近，促进了频繁的面对面研究，教育和外展互动。此外，UD CHARM还为资源不足的年轻人提供了一个令人兴奋的材料科学平台，用于多样性和教育项目——通过与两所历史上的黑人学院和大学（HBCUs、特拉华州立大学和克拉弗林大学）的合作，针对那些在科学领域代表性不足的群体的学生，为黑人和拉丁裔青年提供大学预科课程。以及一项旨在指导年轻学生学习基础科学和工程的教育计划。技术摘要：UD CHARM利用计算设计，创新合成和制造工艺以及纳米级表征的综合力量，在多个长度/时间尺度上解锁复杂合成材料的实质性承诺-利用界面，相互作用和合成特异性的战略控制。MRSEC的核心活动是成为跨学科整合和基础设施发展的中心，以推动跨领域材料创新。其中一个IRG率先使用计算导向途径进行非天然氨基酸组装和功能化，以实现肽活性物质的紧急特性，例如协调和精确的大规模定向分子运动。该团队正在利用肽分子形状和化学序列的可编程性，通过非天然氨基酸掺入和溶液/薄膜处理，开发具有目标结构和产生简单机器运动能力的新型生物灵感材料-所有这些都由计算见解指导。第二个IRG正在创建控制太赫兹（THz）功能的混合量子材料，以实现对太赫兹辐射和太赫兹集成电路/器件的前所未有的控制。该团队正在操纵组件之间的界面和相互作用，以创建混合材料，使每个组件的太赫兹激发之间无缝转换，使非线性相互作用成为调制器或门的理想选择，并使混合量子态的控制形成和调制成为可能。UD CHARM通过在一个有凝聚力的指导循环中进行教学/培训来创建一个材料管道。主要的项目影响包括：(1)通过创建特拉华州科学项目，为缺课的K-12学生提供服务；(2)通过与TeenSHARP-DE大学预科项目对接，为黑人和拉丁裔高中生提供服务；(3)HBCU本科生（UGs）和教师通过“研究生院之路”项目；(4)UGs通过与工业/国际合作伙伴的REU项目。该项目由材料研究部（DMR）的材料研究科学与工程中心（MRSEC）计划、刺激竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）以及数学和物理科学理事会（MPS）的多学科活动办公室（OMA）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 Abstract: The University of Delaware – Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UD MRSEC) is a network rich in scientific opportunity, spanning UD and several strategic external academic and national laboratory partnerships, including U. of Pennsylvania and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). Also known as the UD Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials (UD CHARM), the Center is advancing foundational understanding of new materials driven by theoretical and computational predictions paired with cutting-edge experiments to enable the integration of unconventional, ultra-small, building blocks. One interdisciplinary research group (IRG) is targeting the creation of new bioinspired organic materials with the capacity to function as nanoscale machines. A second IRG aims to create hybrid inorganic quantum materials that enable new optoelectronic circuits/devices and precise control of electromagnetic radiation. With this fundamental approach in both IRGs, transformative advances in materials science are expected, enabling critical innovations in biomedicine, security, sensing, adaptable materials, and soft robotics. The close physical proximity of UD to many of the major partner institutions and industrial stakeholders, facilitates frequent in-person research, education, and outreach interactions. Furthermore, UD CHARM is providing an exciting materials science platform for diversity and education programming to under-resourced youth – targeting students from groups underrepresented in science via partnerships with two historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs, Delaware State U. and Claflin U.), a pre-college effort focused on providing undergraduate pathways for Black and Latinx youth, and an education initiative geared toward mentoring younger students in basic science and engineering.Technical Abstract: UD CHARM is harnessing the integrated power of computational design, innovative synthetic and manufacturing processes, and nanoscale characterization to unlock the substantial promise of complex synthetic materials at multiple length/time-scales - leveraging strategic control of interfaces, interactions, and synthetic specificity. This MRSEC is nucleating activities to become a hub of interdisciplinary integration and infrastructure development to drive cross-cutting materials innovation. One IRG is pioneering the use of computationally-directed pathways for non-natural amino acid assembly and functionalization to achieve emergent properties in peptide active materials, such as concerted and precise larger-scale, directed molecular motion. The team is exploiting the programmability of peptide molecular shape and chemical sequence, enabled by non-natural amino acid incorporation and solution/film processing, to develop new bioinspired materials with targeted architectures and the capacity to generate simple machine movement – all guided by computational insights. A second IRG is creating hybrid quantum materials that control terahertz (THz) functionality, to enable unprecedented control over THz radiation and THz integrated circuits/devices. The team is manipulating interfaces and interactions between constituents to create hybrid materials that seamlessly convert between THz excitations of each constituent, enable nonlinear interactions ideal for modulators or gates, and enable controlled formation and modulation of hybridized quantum states. UD CHARM is creating a materials pipeline by teaching/training in a cohesive mentoring loop. Major programming impacts include: (1) under-served K-12 students via creation of a Delaware Science Program, (2) Black and Latinx high school students by interfacing with the TeenSHARP-DE college prep program, (3) HBCU undergraduates (UGs) and faculty through a ‘Pathways to Graduate School’ program, and (4) UGs via an REU program with industrial/international partners.This project is jointly funded by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) Program in the Division of Materials Research (DMR), the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).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.