The materials science and engineering researcher and an interdisciplinary team formed at the Research Corporation for Science Advancement's Scialog have received funding to investigate water-free mining of valuable metals like iron and lithium.
In collaboration with materials company Homerun Resources, Inc., UC Davis engineering researchers have developed a one-step laser technique that purifies raw silica sand to over 99.99% silica. This is the first step in a multiphase project to create a clean-energy pathway to producing silicon.
Mingwei Zhang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at UC Davis, has been awarded nearly $1 million for groundbreaking research on refractory complex concentrated alloys as next-generation structural materials for ultra-high-temperature applications.
The American Ceramic Society has honored the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering with the 2025 James I. Mueller Award for his 50-plus years of service to the organization and his contributions to the international ceramics community.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus Zuhair A. Munir, has been named a Distinguished Life Member by the American Ceramic Society. Munir is recognized for his pioneering work on the use of electromagnetic fields in the synthesis and processing of materials.
Researchers from UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed deep-learning model ensembles to investigate the magnetic properties of perovskite oxide multilayers and gain key insights into how they might be used in next-generation electronic devices.
UC Davis Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Klaus van Benthem has been recognized for his research in studying ceramic microstructures and his dedication to perpetuating the scholarship and field of ceramics by the American Ceramic Society.
The Dr. Andy Nieto Memorial Excellence Scholarship has been established at UC Davis to honor the late Andy Nieto and support first-generation undergraduate students pursuing materials science and engineering education.
With a Seed Grant for International Activities from UC Davis Global Affairs, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Yayoi Takamura is collaborating with researchers from Chile to use plasma-enhanced pulsed laser deposition to synthesize and characterize thin films for sustainable energy technologies.
Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Scott McCormack is part of a multi-university team awarded $7.5 million over five years from the Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, or MURI, program.
Through teaching, mentorship and outreach, the assistant professor champions accessible materials science education, emphasizing real-world connections and hands-on experiments to inspire future scientists.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering recognizes women in engineering, their journey to and in the field, and how they promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.
Meet some remarkable women in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and learn how they inspire inclusion in engineering.
As editors and members of editorial boards for academic journals, materials science and engineering professors at UC Davis are contributing their expertise and knowledge to influence the field and stay on trend with the newest, cutting-edge research.
New research published in Physical Review Letters shows how an experiment with lasers and magnets resulted in the domain walls within ferromagnetic layers moving at previously unheard-of speeds, paving the way for more sustainable and energy-efficient data storage.
Equatic, co-founded by UC Davis materials science engineer Erika La Plante, was recognized for its cutting-edge technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and creates hydrogen, a clean energy alternative.
Materials science and engineering professor Marina Leite has received $1 million to make switchable photonic devices more efficient with hybrid perovskites, a class of materials with physical properties that can be controlled through light alone.
It is with great sadness that the Department of Materials Science and Engineering announces the passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Subhash Mahajan. He is remembered in the community as a gifted mentor and generous friend and colleague.
Mahajan was considered one of the foremost experts on electronic materials and slip and twinning phenomena. His research focused on understanding the interrelationship between structure properties in semiconductors and the deformation behavior of solids.
Amir Saeidi, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was selected as one of eight Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows the University of California, Davis Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement announced the 2023-24 cohort on Tuesday.
Erika La Plante, a new assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, leveraged her geochemistry background while applying the materials science paradigms to her unique research on cementitious materials.
For many new faculty members in the College of Engineering, the interdisciplinary advantages of the University of California, Davis, are welcome discoveries. Mingwei Zhang, a new assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was already very familiar with the unique connections UC Davis creates across campus though.
Marina Leite is on her fourth cell phone. A professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Davis, and a Chancellor’s Fellow, Leite is holding out on upgrading her phone because tossing her old one would produce excess waste.
The inside of a living cell is crowded with large, complex molecules. New research on how these molecules could spontaneously organize themselves could further our understanding of how cells manage their essential biochemistry in the crowded space.
We all have experience with water turning from solid to liquid to gas and back again.
But knowing what happens scientifically during those transitions is an essential, yet unanswered scientific question that Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Jeremy Mason and his research group are pursuing.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis College of Engineering are using machine learning to identify new materials for high-efficiency solar cells. Using high-throughput experiments and machine learning-based algorithms, they have found it is possible to forecast the materials’ dynamic behavior with very high accuracy, without the need to perform as many experiments.
Peifen Lyu ’19, Ph.D. ’25 has created a magnesium-based nanoscale optical device that dissolves in water and changes colors in displays. It creates a color change across several applications, such as a coating for pills or as sensors in environmental science for testing different chemical compositions.
