The Materials Research Society (MRS) University Chapter Special Projects Program is dedicated to supporting projects proposed by MRS University Chapters. These projects generate student interest and membership for the Chapters. The goal is to support a broad variety of projects.

With the MRS University Chapter Special Projects Grant, the Materials Science Umbrella Society (MSUS) at Northwestern University (NU) was able to organize Software Workshops for Materials Science Graduate Students and related outreach events. Prior to starting these workshops, MSUS sent a survey to all materials science and engineering (MS&E) graduate students and asked for their input on what software programs are most relevant for classes and research projects. The software workshops focused on how to use Adobe Illustrator, ImageJ, and MATLAB. Senior graduate students who were experts in Adobe Illustrator and MATLAB led the workshops. The operations director at NU’s Biological Imaging Facility led the ImageJ workshop.

The MRS University Chapter at Boston University held a Materials Madness event, where teams competed in materials science challenges. Top: Students work together to build the strongest/tallest tower using toothpicks, gumdrops, and marshmallows. Bottom: Students are enjoying liquid nitrogen ice cream made during the event. Photos courtesy of MRS University Chapter, Boston University.

MSUS also ran outreach events to gather feedback, gauge interest in future workshops, and provide context for why these workshops are useful. The events proved to be good complements to the workshops.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) ran an Industry Panel and Networking Session, where they invited local industry scientists to discuss their careers. They had representatives from several large companies (Eastman Chemical Company, Lucideon), a few startups (Tethis, Inc., Trio Labs, Inc.), and a government organization (US Environmental Protection Agency). During the Q&A panel, attendees had the opportunity to ask the panelists about their jobs and career paths. After the Q&A panel, attendees were invited to a networking social, where everyone had an opportunity to ask the panel guests and some of their co-workers additional questions.

Remaining money in the budg-et was used to host a lunch meeting with UNC’s industry relations officer. At this meeting, they learned about his job as a “bridge” between academic and industry scientists and how he helps foster partnerships between the two.

The UNC chapter also held an Undergraduate Outreach Seminar Series. The goals of this project were to help expose STEM students at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) in the nearby area to materials science and the possibility of graduate school, and to provide opportunities for materials science graduate students to present their research to a more general audience. To realize these goals, they contacted student-run STEM organizations at several PUIs across North Carolina and coordinated visits to their campus. At these visits, two graduate students from the MRS University Chapter gave a short research talk followed by a Q&A session with graduate students about graduate school (e.g., application process, day-to-day life). Fifteen graduate students participated by either giving a research talk or participating on the Q&A panel.

The goal of the Diversity Seminar Series at UNC was to invite two minority (based on gender, race) materials scientist speakers to UNC. Last fall, they hosted Evelyn Wang, a female mechanical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in the spring, they hosted Kristin Persson, a materials scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the director of the Materials Project. They also partnered with Allies for Minorities and Women in Science and Engineering to help organize and advertise these events. The seminars were quite successful and had high attendance from several departments. The Q&A breakfasts were particularly valuable because attendees were able to talk with the speakers about their career paths and some of the obstacles they faced.

The Materials Science Challenge activity in Uruguay was inspired by an Advent Calendar, which counts the days between April 1 and 13, when the “Primer Encuentro de Jóvenes Investigadores en Ciencia de Materiales” (First Meeting of Young Researchers in Materials Science) started. Its main goals were to disseminate materials science in Uruguay and to encourage the participation of young people, from Uruguay and the region, in materials science.

Top: Students at Northwestern University attend an ImageJ software workshop to become familiar with the image processing tool. Photo courtesy of MRS University Chapter, Northwestern University.

Right: Student receives her certificate of participation at the Materials Science Challenge event in Uruguay. Photo courtesy of MRS University Chapter, Universidad de la República-CURE, Uruguay.

Every day, a new challenge was uploaded to their web page (ucudelar.wixsite.com/ucudelar). At the end of each challenge, they held an awards ceremony, where they explained university chapters, what they do at the MRS University Chapter, Universidad de la República-CURE, and invited everyone to join them for activities and networking.

Boston University (BU) held an event called Materials Madness, where teams competed in materials science challenges (the world’s tallest gumdrop/toothpick tower or polymers spike ball). BU provided dinner and dessert (liquid nitrogen ice cream). The event was open to all graduate students. Other events included a surface tension boat race and materials Jeopardy.

One of the goals of the event was to facilitate building a stronger materials community within BU. Team members were able to bond throughout the event, and many of the groups were comprised of people who had not previously met. Procedural documents were created to assist future groups who are looking to host similar events or to plan outreach events for younger students to encourage them in their scientific endeavors.

The MRS University Chapter Program comprises a passionate and talented network of students from universities around the world that fosters an environment for collaboration and open exchange of ideas across all scientific disciplines, spanning campuses and continents. These students represent the next generation of materials researchers. If there is a Chapter at your college or university, we urge you to join. If there isn’t a Chapter at your location, you may be the person to get one started. For more information on requesting a grant and the evaluation process, visit mrs.org/foundation-university-chapter-special-projects.