Cornell MSE Newsletter: spontaneous supercrystal discovery, celebrating women in engineering and more

Newsletter

Dear Alumni and Friends of the Department,

Now that the excitement of Commencement and Reunion have passed, I look back at the past semester and my 3-year term as the Director of Graduate Studies. As of this writing, I am handing over the role to my colleague and recently promoted Associate Professor, Andrej Singer, who will serve a 2-year term as the Director of Graduate Studies beginning July 1.

Read the full letter from Eve Donnelly here.

Featured News

Excellence ascending: Engineering's women leadership at historic high

MSE is one of seven of Cornell Engineering's 11 schools and departments currently led by women.

Andrej Singer, assistant professor of materials science and engineering (left), and graduate student Daniel Weinstock conduct an experiment at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source.

Andrej Singer promoted to Associate Professor

Andrej Singer has been approved for promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure by the Cornell Board of Trustees.

MSE Advisory Council welcomes Beth Keser

Dr. Beth Keser is a recognized global leader in the semiconductor packaging industry with over 26 years of experience.

Research Briefs

Bovine serum albumin condensates swim toward a high pH region and spontaneously dissolve

Droplets swim to dissolution, could inspire fluid microbots

Eric Dufresne and his team of researchers recently discovered that microscopic liquid droplets swim toward solvent conditions that favor their dissolution. This mechanism may underlie some transport processes within living cells, and could be exploited to develop fluid micro robots.

Backdoor method creates high-entropy material at lower temps

The Robinson Group is part of an interdisciplinary team that has developed a backchannel way, using solubility rather than entropy, to overcome thermodynamic constraints and synthesize high-entropy oxide (HEO) nanocrystals at lower temperatures.

Spontaneous supercrystal discovered in switching metal-insulator

A supercrystal formation previously unobserved in a metal-insulating material was discovered by a Cornell-led research team, potentially unlocking new ways to engineer materials and devices with tunable electronic properties.

Lena Kourkoutis, M.S. ’06, Ph.D. ’09 and Judy Cha, Ph.D. ’09

Kourkoutis' cryo-imaging continues to drive quantum discoveries

It wasn’t nostalgia that brought Judy Cha, Ph.D. ’09, back to Cornell. Among the reasons she left Yale University and joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering two years ago was the prospect of working with an old friend: Lena Kourkoutis, M.S. ’06, Ph.D. ’09.

a two-dimensional, cut-through reconstructed sample volume showing three adjacent crystal grains (red, blue, green) separated by a 100-nanometer-thick grain boundary (yellow) together with the positions of two topological defects (plus and minus signs)

New 3D reconstruction method aids analysis of property-defining defects

“It’s a new polymer, a new structure and a new technique that allowed for unprecedented sample volumes to be reconstructed,” said Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Alumni Spotlights

Julie Nucci M.S. '93, Ph.D. '96, discusses how a historic flood led to her career in climate adaptation consulting.

Determined to protect her home from future floods, she actively participated in the planning and design of its elevation.

Read the full story.

TeraPore uses Cornell research to address virus filtration challenges

Rachel Dorin Ph.D. ’13 is cofounder and CEO of San Francisco based, TeraPore Technologies, which launched their first line of novel nano filtration products last December.

Read the full story.

Rachel Dorin, Ph.D. ’13, co-founder and CEO of TeraPore Technologies

Awards and Honors

2024 MSE Distinguished Alumni Award Winner

Christine Ortiz, M.S. '95, Ph.D. '97, received the 2024 Materials Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award at the department's annual awards gala on May 10th in Willard Straight Hall.

Mahdi Ayoubi, Lara Estroff, and Eve Donnelly

Congratulations to the 2024 MSE Awards Gala

Poster Session Winners

Senior Thesis Poster

1st Place – Yuhze Wang ($250)

2nd Place – Luyan Li ($200)

3rd Place – Hao Zheng ($150)

M.S. Poster

1st Place – Joyce Wang ($550)

2nd Place – Jaejun Lee ($300)

M.Eng. Poster

1st Place – Dana Prokop ($550)

Ph.D. Poster

1st Place – Mokshin Suri ($550)

2nd Place – Yilin Li ($300)

Postdoctoral Poster

1st Place – Mahdi Ayoubi ($550)

Visit our website to read about faculty and students earning prestigious fellowships, publishing books, launching startups, and being featured in national news outlets, among other achievements.

Giving Opportunities

Students documenting their trip to a conference

Your generosity supports experiential learning opportunities for our students and allows them to participate in professional conferences and conventions. Most recently a group of materials science and engineering students attended the 2024 National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Enjoy this video showcasing some of their travels and experiences!

There are many ways to support materials science and engineering students and researchers. Please visit our giving opportunities website and consider a gift that will help us remain a top materials science and engineering department.

We want to hear from you!

We love hearing from our alumni and welcome your comments and questions, as well as updates on what your doing with your MSE degree. We're always looking for interesting alumni to profile in future editions of the newsletter. Email us at materials@cornell.edu.