The Wisconsin MRSEC has a culture of “everyone participates”, which enables the development and dissemination of outreach activities inspired by cutting-edge materials science research. For example, through an annual research and education workshop, MRSEC members develop ideas for new research-inspired content. To engage audiences who cannot attend traditional on-campus outreach events, Wisconsin MRSEC developed a program called “Science at the Pantry”. Originally, the MRSEC collaborated with a local food pantry to engage families with materials science outreach activities while they waited to collect their food. When COVID forced the pantry to switch to a drive-through food distribution model, our MRSEC pivoted to the development of inclusive outreach kits that are offered to families during drive-through registration.

Anne Lynn Gillian-Daniel is the Director of Education and Outreach for the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UW-MRSEC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Education lead for the Wisconsin-Puerto Rico Partnership in Research and Education and Materials (WiPR2EM). As the Education Director, Anne Lynn works with MRSEC members to develop educational content inspired by their research advances. Additionally, Anne Lynn works to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in materials science and engineering. To help faculty, graduate students, and postdocs improve their understanding of issues around equity and inclusion, Anne Lynn leads workshops on bias mitigation and culturally aware mentoring at and beyond UW-Madison, including for MRS members.

Quantum materials while highly desirable for a host of applications, present several challenges that remain unresolved, including the ability to control their assembly and interfaces at the molecular level, matching of phonon band structures with discrete vibrational modes, and tuning energetic offsets for effective charge and spin transfer. Each of these parameters ultimately governs charge energy levels, charge transport, and the preservation of coherence. Whittaker-Brooks' research program at the University of Utah has centered on tackling these challenges by using scale-bridging physical and molecular design approaches that are driven by the following hypotheses: (1) matching phonon structure across interfaces through control of the attachment sites of molecules to surfaces that could allow for efficient coherent energy transfer and (2) topologically protected electronic states that can be defined by the assembly of 2D π-conjugated molecules and layered organic-inorganic materials on surfaces as a means to control spin-coherent electronic transport. In this flash talk, Whittaker-Brooks will present her current outlook on designing quantum materials and characterization tools to probe spin, chirality, and charge transfer.

Luisa Whittaker-Brooks is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah. Her research centers on the design of well-defined hybrid materials with controlled morphology and interfaces that serve as conduits for deterministic and coherent energy and charge transfer for applications in energy conversion, storage, and electronics. Whittaker-Brooks received her BS degree in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Panama. Under a Fulbright Fellowship, she received her M.S. and PhD degrees in Materials Chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. She is the recipient of the 2013 L’Oréal Fellowship for Women in Science Award and the 2015 Marion Milligan Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was named a Scialog and Cottrell Fellow by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), a Talented 12 by C&En news, and a GERA Ovshinsky Energy Fellow by the American Physical Society (APS). She is also the recipient of a Department of Energy Early Career Award, a Sloan Fellowship in Chemistry, and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award.

Quantum materials, having a rich variety of quantum states and phases, are primary workhorse in the emerging second quantum evolution. In this talk, I will focus on the development and investigation of high-quality van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions and superlattices, and the exploration of the unique quantum transport properties of these novel material platforms.  Despite considerable potential of many delicate material systems, the fundamental understanding of their charge transport properties is generally lagging behind, largely due to the difficulties of finding a stable material platform, the complicated fabrication process, and forming good electrical contacts to these materials. To this end, I will show several unique methods using vdW integration approach, where atomically flat interfaces can be achieved between various systems through vdW interaction, and can be extended to multiple layers forming high-order superlattice structures, providing variable systems for quantum transport investigations. Inspired by these findings, I will also show the exciting opportunities of vdW integration for creating new artificial quantum solids with designable chemical compositions, dimensionality, interlayer distances and structure motifs, which opens up brand new platforms for both the fundamental studies and quantum technologies. 

Qi Qian is currently a postdoctoral research scholar at UCLA in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with Professor Xiangfeng Duan. She received her PhD degree in condensed matter physics from Purdue University in 2018 with Professor Michael Manfra. Her research interest includes quantum materials engineering, nanoscale devices development and emergent low temperature quantum transport properties. Her research works are published in top peer-reviewed journals and conference’s, including Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials and Physical Review B. She has received 2018 The Lark-Horovitz Prize in Physics at Purdue University, 2018 Lijuan Wang Memorial Award at Purdue University and the nomination of 2022 Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research at UCLA.

A remarkable feature of modern integrated circuit technology is its ability to operate in a stable fashion, with almost perfect reliability, without physical or chemical change. Recently developed classes of electronic materials create an opportunity to engineer the opposite outcome, in the form of ‘transient’ devices that dissolve, disintegrate or otherwise disappear at triggered times or with controlled rates. Water-soluble transient electronics serve as the foundations for interesting applications in bioresorbable medical implants based on body chemistry. In my talk, I will present the foundational concepts in chemistry, materials science, and assembly processes of bioresorbable medical devices. Wireless electronic stimulators designed for use in treatment of temporary bradycardia provide application example.

Yeonsik Choi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Yonsei University. He is leading a group working on developing advanced bioelectronic materials for biomedical applications. Choi obtained his BS (2009) and MS (2011) degrees from Yonsei University, Korea in Materials Science and Engineering. He spent 2011-2015 as a senior researcher in the Advanced Materials Development Team at LG Chem. Ltd. R&D Center, Korea. In 2019, he received a PhD under the guidance of Prof. Sohini Kar-Narayan, in the Materials Science and Metallurgy from University of Cambridge, UK, with support from the Cambridge Trust Scholarship. He was subsequently a NIH K99 postdoctoral fellow (2019-2022) under Professor John A. Rogers in the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University, USA. In 2021, Choi received the Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is also the recipient of the IIN Outstanding Research Award (2021), the Baxter Young Investigator Award (2021), the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation (2021), the CSAR PhD Student Award (2019), the ABTA Doctoral Researcher Award (2018), and two best paper, three best poster awards. Choi’s works have received extensive global media coverage. One of his inventions, the bioresorbable cardiac pacemaker, is exhibited as a permanent collection at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds (UK).