MRSEC-DOE National Laboratory Partnerships

Harvard MRSEC researchers have established strong collaborations with multiple DOE national laboratories, which enhance Center research through scientific exchanges and access to their unique, large-scale facilities. Aizenberg and Lewis work with Pindak, Weiger, and their team at the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to investigate magnetic-field and shear-induced alignment of liquid crystalline elastomers (top left: Center graduate students, Milan Wilborn and Reena Paink). Lewis transferred her multi-material 3D printing technology to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where she has ongoing collaborations with Lee and Cook (top right). Mason carried out in situ X-ray diffraction studies with Yakovenko at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to characterize the phase behavior of his soft barocaloric materials at high pressures (bottom: Center graduate student Faith Chen (bottom left), and postdoc Dan Laorenza (bottom right)). Mason also carried out neutron scattering with Jalarvo at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to investigate molecular mechanisms responsible for their low hysteresis. The interactions with the senior scientists and technical staff members at these national laboratories greatly enrich the educational experiences of Center researchers.