The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on September 8th, 2011 the list of Centers of Excellence for Materials Research and Innovation (CEMRI), which includes the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center on Nanostructured Interfaces led by Dr. Juan de Pablo. The center is organized into three Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) and one Interdisciplinary Educational Group. IRG-1 focuses on new multi-element compounds and semiconductor materials, IRG-2 on charge transport near and across interfaces between organic and inorganic materials, and IRG-3 on the synthesis and processes of new classes of functional liquid crystalline materials, composites and interfaces.
De Pablo, principal investigator of the CEMRI, is a co-principal investigator in the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez’s DMR-supported Wisconsin-Puerto Rico Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (Wi(PR)2EM, NSF Grant # 0934115), which supports a partnership with the just-awarded CEMRI and the University of Wisconsin’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. Additionally, De Pablo is the principal investigator in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Site: Cross-Cultural Connections: An RET Site Program with UPRM and UW (NSF Grant # 0908782), which is also a collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez.
UPRM researchers will participate in the recently awarded CEMRI. Chemical Engineering faculty Drs. Aldo Acevedo and Carlos Rinaldi are part of IRG-3, while Dr. Nelson Cardona will continue to lead the educational efforts at our site and the RET.
For more information visit NSF’s Press Release (http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=121536&org=NSF&from=news) or UW’s announcement (http://www.news.wisc.edu/19742).