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CENTER: ATOMICALLY ENGINEERED MATERIALS (ATEM) CENTER -NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION ATOMICALLY ENGINEERED MATERIALS (ATEM) CENTER, A MATERIALS RESEARCH SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CENTER (MRSEC) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN, ADVANCES THE DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF NOVEL MATERIALS WITH EXCEPTIONAL CONTROL AT THE ATOMIC SCALE. BY ESTABLISHING HOW ATOMIC-SCALE STRUCTURE GOVERNS MATERIAL PROPERTIES, ATEM ENABLES NEW PATHWAYS TOWARD NEXT-GENERATION ELECTRONICS, COMPUTING, SENSING, AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES. ATEM BRINGS TOGETHER RESEARCHERS FROM PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, ENGINEERING, AND MATERIALS SCIENCE IN TWO INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH GROUPS (IRGS). IRG 1 STUDIES HOW CAREFULLY DESIGNED AND PRECISELY TWISTED STACKS OF ULTRATHIN MATERIALS CREATE NEW ELECTRONIC AND MAGNETIC BEHAVIORS THAT DO NOT EXIST IN THE INDIVIDUAL LAYERS. BY CONTROLLING ATOMIC INTERFACES, DEFECTS, AND MAGNETIC ORDER, RESEARCHERS AIM TO DEVELOP MATERIALS FOR FASTER, MORE ENERGY-EFFICIENT, BRAIN-INSPIRED COMPUTING SYSTEMS, AND SPIN-BASED ELECTRONIC DEVICES. IRG 2 DEVELOPS A NEW FAMILY OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL MATERIALS KNOWN AS MXENES WITH TAILORED OPTICAL, ELECTRICAL, AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES. BY MODIFYING THEIR CHEMISTRY AND ATOMIC STRUCTURE, RESEARCHERS CREATE FLEXIBLE MATERIALS FOR ADVANCED ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELDING, TUNABLE OPTICAL DEVICES, ADAPTIVE ELECTRONICS, AND LIGHTWEIGHT MULTIFUNCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES. ATEM COMBINES ADVANCED MATERIALS SYNTHESIS, NANOFABRICATION, ATOMIC-SCALE CHARACTERIZATION, THEORY, COMPUTER SIMULATIONS, AND MACHINE LEARNING TOOLS TO ESTABLISH PREDICTIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ATOMIC STRUCTURE AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES. THESE EFFORTS ARE SUPPORTED BY WORLD-CLASS INSTRUMENTATION AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH NATIONAL LABORATORIES. ATEM EDUCATES AND TRAINS THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS. STUDENTS GAIN HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION AND AUGMENTED REALITY TOOLS THAT MAKE COMPLEX CONCEPTS MORE ACCESSIBLE WHILE STRENGTHENING WORKFORCE READINESS. THROUGH ITS INTEGRATED RESEARCH AND EDUCATION MISSION, ATEM ADVANCES U.S. LEADERSHIP IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING AND ACCELERATES TECHNOLOGIES THAT ADDRESS IMPORTANT NATIONAL NEEDS. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION ATOMICALLY ENGINEERED MATERIALS (ATEM) CENTER, A MATERIALS RESEARCH SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CENTER (MRSEC) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN, ADVANCES THE SYNTHESIS AND ATOMIC-SCALE ENGINEERING OF NOVEL MATERIALS AND HETEROSTRUCTURES TO ESTABLISH STRUCTURE?PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSLATE FUNDAMENTAL DISCOVERIES INTO TRANSFORMATIVE ELECTRONIC, SPINTRONIC, PHOTONIC, AND QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES. ATEM INTEGRATES SYNTHESIS, THEORY, COMPUTATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND NANOFABRICATION THROUGH TWO INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH GROUPS (IRGS). IRG 1, QUANTUM AND TOPOLOGICAL STATES AT FERROIC INTERFACES, INVESTIGATES EMERGENT QUANTUM PHENOMENA IN ENGINEERED OXIDE AND VAN DER WAALS HETEROSTRUCTURES. RESEARCH FOCUSES ON DESIGNING FERROIC AND MULTIFERROIC INTERFACES, ENGINEERING TOPOLOGICAL SPIN TEXTURES AND TUNABLE ALTERMAGNETIC STATES, AND CONTROLLING DEFECTS AND POLAR PHASE BOUNDARIES TO ESTABLISH STRUCTURE?PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS THAT ENABLE EMERGENT FUNCTIONALITIES FOR PROGRAMMABLE MEMRISTIVE DEVICES, NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTING, LOGIC-IN-MEMORY ARCHITECTURES, AND SCALABLE SPINTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES. IRG 2, TUNABLE OPTOELECTRONIC AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF MXENES AND THEIR HETEROSTRUCTURES, DEVELOPS CHEMICALLY FUNCTIONALIZABLE TWO-DIMENSIONAL TRANSITION-METAL CARBIDES, NITRIDES, AND CARBONITRIDES WITH TUNABLE OPTICAL, ELECTRONIC, AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES. RESEARCH ESTABLISHES A VERSATILE MXENE PLATFORM INTEGRATING NONLINEAR OPTICAL RESPONSE, CHIRALITY, AND MAGNETIC ORDER IN HETEROSTRUCTURES AND COMPOSITES, ENABLING FLEXIBLE AND PRINTABLE ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELDING, TUNABLE PHOTONIC DEVICES, AND ADAPTIVE ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS. BOTH IRGS COMBINE MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY, PULSED LASER AND SPUTTER DEPOSITION, CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS, ADVANCED NANOFABRICATION, AND MULTISCALE CHARACTERIZATION USING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, SPECTROSCOPY, TRANSPORT MEASUREMENTS, AND QUANTUM SENSING. MACHINE LEARNING, THEORETICAL MODELING, AND SIMULATION ESTABLISH PREDICTIVE STRUCTURE?PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS CONNECTING ATOMIC-SCALE STRUCTURE TO EMERGENT FUNCTIONALITY. THESE EFFORTS LEVERAGE THE CAPABILITIES OF THE NEBRASKA CENTER FOR MATERIALS AND NANOSCIENCE AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH NATIONAL LABORATORIES, INCLUDING ACCESS TO ADVANCED LIGHT SOURCES AND NEUTRON-SCATTERING FACILITIES. 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

Cooperative Agreement (B) · National Science Foundation · to Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (UEI HTQ6K6NJFHA6) · data as of 2026-09-30

Source: USAspending.gov prime award transactions and FSRS subaward reports, as loaded by SpendQuery (data as of 2026-09-30). Amounts are obligations (money committed), not outlays. The official record on USAspending.gov ↗