Materials Science & Engineering at Illinois Grainger Engineering

09/03/2026

This Friday, join The Grainger College of Engineering for a roundtable discussion about the implementation of human-centered design in education. Senior Lecturer Matthew Goodman will share the process he uses in leading the materials department's senior design capstone course as part of this conversation.

DETAILS HERE: https://bit.ly/4ydUcGx

09/02/2026

Take note, future materials engineers! Apply by Nov. 1, 2026.

08/28/2026

Attention graduate students! The Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC) is offering a graduate fellowship opportunity that might be perfect for you. Explore emerging research questions and work closely with the I-MRSEC community through one year of support as a research assistant, with the potential for a second year of renewal.

Applications are due by Sept. 15, 2026. See the article for more information.

Graduate students seeking the chance to explore emerging questions in research should consider taking part in the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC) graduate fellowship position. Submissions are due by Sept. 15, 2026. 

08/27/2026

In a newsletter from The Grainger College of Engineering on human-centered engineering in education, Senior Lecturer Matthew Goodman shared how restructuring MSE 494/495 into a two-semester sequence — with design thinking introduced early — boosted students' confidence in design across the board.

"By incorporating HCD, a framework is provided that allows students to utilize divergent thinking and realize that it is a fundamental skill necessary for design." — Matthew Goodman

The best solutions are built around the people they're meant to serve. As engineers take on global challenges like sustainable energy, health equity and ethical technology, they need both technical skills and the ability to understand and design for the end user.

08/25/2026

Professor Nancy Sottos leaves the post of department head with fond memories and proud accomplishments, from the creation of a new Materials Science and Engineering + Data Science degree path — the first of its kind nationally — to the construction of the Eltoukhy Family Innovation Lab maker space for students.

This in-depth Q&A explores what's next for Sottos in her career and the advice she has for Paul Braun, the new materials department head at Illinois, as he takes over.

After more than six years of service as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Nancy Sottos sat down to talk about her accomplishments and the challenges ahead for her successor, Paul Braun.

08/18/2026

Please wish congratulations to Henry Quansah Afful, who in July was one of 23 participating fellows in the 2026 Trailblazers in Engineering program at Purdue University! This competitive national program prepares outstanding PhD students and postdoctoral researchers for careers in academia.

08/13/2026

Nancy Sottos joined leaders from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Air Force Research Laboratory - AFRL and industry at the Beckman Institute at Illinois for the "Roadmap for In-Space Manufacturing of Resilient Structures" workshop — shaping the future of materials and infrastructure beyond Earth.

From on-orbit materials testing to space-environment simulation, materials research continues to drive the science behind sustainable space exploration.

Illinois leads conversation on in-space manufacturing and resilient structures

08/10/2026

Congratulations to Associate Professor Nicola Perry, who is part of the 2026-27 Emerging Research Leaders Academy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign! She is part of a cohort of 16 faculty and researchers who will be part of the program this year.

Mid-career nominees will attend workshops through the fall and spring semesters of the academic year as they continue to hone their leadership and management skills.

Sixteen rising stars chosen for the 26-27 Emerging Research Leaders Academy

08/04/2026

Undergraduate materials student Hailey Pohl was co-lead on a 2026 NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space to Soil Challenge project named among 10 finalists. She and fellow students in the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois designed what they call, "LOOP: Lightweight Onboard Observation Pipeline for Small Satellites."

“Their design uses on-board processing to determine what targets to capture on a given pass based on cloud and weather forecasts, what images and data to keep based on their quality and if certain criteria/metrics need to be transmitted to the ground or if the target needs to be observed again,” said Matt Hausman, the team’s faculty adviser.

LEARN MORE: https://bit.ly/4wOGcCX

07/29/2026

Work featured on the cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B (Royal Society of Chemistry), led by Assistant Professor Yuecheng "Peter" Zhou and graduate student Xuchen Ren, developed a tunable, label-free optical platform using the polymer PEDOT:PSS to record bioelectric signals without disruptive electrodes or dyes — successfully demonstrating the technique by capturing electrical activity in embryonic chicken hearts.

This work lays the foundation for next-generation, non-invasive tools to study electrical activity in living tissue, with an eye toward future in vivo applications.

Materials graduate student Xuchen Ren, with undergraduate researcher Alexandra Kuhlman-Schneider, found that adding chloride ions during electropolymerization of PEDOT:PSS thin films shifts their electrochromic response and reshapes voltage sensitivity across wavelengths. Using chloride-free films,....