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MRSEC Program
mrsec.org; mrfn.org
Division of Materials Research
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
(MRSEC)
June 8, 2017
Dan Finotello
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MRSEC History
• 1960-61 - Interdisciplinary Research Labs (IDLs) -ARPA
• 1971 - Proposal to transfer IDLs to NSF as a result of the
Mansfield Amendment
• 1972 - NSF establishes DMR, MRL program
• 1994 - DMR establishes MRSEC program
• 2010 - DMR establishes CEMRI (Centers) and MIRT (small
team) programs
• 2013 - DMR drops CEMRI/MIRT nomenclature and returns
program name back to MRSEC with no MIRT
• 2016 – MRSEC: Just Completed
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NSF Centers
2011
CEMRI
IDL/MRL
University
Year
Initiated
Cornell
1960
Pennsylvania
1960
Northwestern
1960
Chicago
1961
Harvard
1961
MIT
1961
Pennsylvania State 1974
Ohio State
1982
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MRSEC “Uniqueness”
• Six Years Awards
• Site Visits in Years 2 and 4
• Re-competition model: they do not sunset
• Made of Interdisciplinary Research Groups,
IRGs; currently 2 to 3 IRGs.
• Faculty participants of different expertise and
involving several departments
• Industrial and International participation:
Transdisciplinary
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MRSEC Program Goals / Achievements
• Stimulate and support outstanding interdisciplinary research and
education in materials of a scope and complexity that requires a
center. All students, in or out of MRSEC benefit from it.
• Critical mass of investigators of complementary/diverse expertise
• Address fundamental, complex materials problems that are
intellectually challenging and important to society
• Foster partnerships between academia and industry, National labs,
and international: transdisciplinarity
• Re-competition model and Seed program provide a mechanism for
a reinvention and adaptation to address emerging areas (flexibility)
• Leveraging of funds; Attract faculty
• Start-ups; Patents
• Materials Network Facilities Network, www.mrfn.org
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Interdisciplinary Research
Groups (IRG): Core Unit
• Each IRG (6-12 senior participants):
– Addresses a major materials topic or area synergistically
– Is more than a ‘collection of individual investigators’
– Typical IRG effort includes synthesis, theory,
characterization, evaluation, and maybe applications
– IRGs map onto Individual Investigator Programs; MRSEC
may contain dissimilar IRGs: a unique center feature.
• Collectively, the MRSEC IRG topics cover the entire research
breadth that DMR addresses as a division
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Structure of a MRSEC
“The Umbrella”
• Education (precollege to postdoctoral) and
development of human resources.
– Required Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) program.
• Active collaborations with industry and other
sectors.
• Shared experimental facilities (networked).
• Flexibility to develop new areas, support for
‘SEEDs.’
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SEED Program
• 10% of the overall budget devoted to SEED projects
• All inclusive internal competition
• 1-2 years projects
• Seed support for junior faculty and for investigators changing
fields;
• Emerging areas of interdisciplinary research;
• Programs to link the university effort in materials with
industry, national laboratories, and other sectors;
• The development of tools and cyber infrastructure for remote
access to instrumentation;
• Innovative interdisciplinary educational ventures
• Complementary to IRGs or to Nucleate new IRGs
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MRSEC Expenditures 2016
% of Fixed Total Budget, $56 M/yr
5.1
12.9
1.3
9.2
61.1
10.4
IRGs
Seeds
Education
Industry
Shared Facilities
Administration
Majority of Research funds (IRGs + Seeds) pay for Graduate student and Post-doc salaries.
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High Impact
21 MRSECs (2016)
• 56 IRGs
• 926 publications (42% 2+
authors)(range 20% - 56%)
• 49 patents awarded (yearly ave.)
21 MRSEC (2016)
796 (608) supported TTF participants
(21-27%F; 8-10%URM); 28% PHY, 21.5%
CHE, 17.7% MS, 10.3% each EE & CE
• 836 GS (25.1% F, 7.7% URM)+ 180
UGS (46% F, 16% URM)
• 298 Post-docs (24.8% F, 7.7% URM)
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MRFN Statistics
23 centers
1141 instruments
255 experts
Recently added
instruments
Thermogravimetric
Analyzer
Thermogravimetric
Analyzer Mass
Spectrometer
Infrastructure mrfn.org/instruments
>1140 Instruments
Yearly Users of MRSEC Facilities
> 1380 Academic
> 530 Industry
>50 National Labs
743 Publications acknowledged
MRSEC SF
• 75 MRSEC Technical Staff in
SEFs
• 31 Other Technicians
• 51 Administrative Staff
• 37 Education Staff
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https://mrsec.org/facilities
Book an Instrument
The Materials Research Facilities Network is a nationwide partnership of the Shared Experimental
Facilities (SEFs) supported by the National Science Foundation's Material Research Science and
Engineering Centers (MRSECs). The MRFN is designed and operated to provide support to
researchers and experimental facilities engaged in the broad area of Materials Research in
academic, government and industrial laboratories around the world.
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•
•
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Search for Instruments at Member Facilities
Find and Work with Technical Experts
Access Training and Educational Materials
Browse the Above Categories by Instrument Type
Log in and Update your Center's Information
The MRFN enhances investigation of material synthesis, characterization, and theory by providing
researchers at diverse institutions with unprecedented access to the cutting-edge facilities,
instrumentation, techniques, and collaborators available at MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities,
which are geographically spread throughout the United States at major research universities. The
MRFN is also the nexus point for the operators, managers, and directors of MRSEC SEFs for
documenting best practices, conferring with colleagues, and sharing expertise and tools to
enhance and streamline the operation of their shared facilities. Finally, MRFN collects
documentation for training and teaching protocols for the instrumentation it supports.
MRSEC Startup Companies
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Innovation
Since 1985: 148 companies in 22 states plus 3
abroad employing > 2550 individuals; More
than 1500 patents awarded
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2016 MRSEC Competition: 2 or 3 IRGs
Solicitation Published: March, 2016
Pre-Proposals Due Date: July 1, 2016
Panels evaluate IRGs
Panels: 7-8 panels, September 7 – 30, 2016
Full Proposal Invitations: October 6, 2016
Full Proposals Due Date: December 2, 2016
Mail Review
Reverse Site Visits:
Invitations: Mid March 2017
Panels: Mid April to Mid May 2017
Recommendations To DGA: First week in June
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2016/2017 MRSEC Competition Otcomes
Received 80 MRSEC preliminary proposals including 221 IRGs by the
July 1, 2016 submission deadline. After checking for compliance with
the solicitation and the NSF Grant Proposal Guide, five preliminary
proposals were Returned Without Review (RWR). Research not aligned
with DMR
The 75 MRSEC preliminary center proposals included 206 IRGs and
were separated into 7 interdisciplinary topical panels and reviewed by a
total of 100 individuals. Overall a total 885 reviews were submitted
corresponding to an average of 4.3 reviews per IRG.
The MRSEC Program recommended inviting 18 Full Proposal
Submissions including 43 of 206 IRGs
Evaluation of 252 IRG separate reviews (nearly 6 reviews per IRG)
provided by 123 reviewers, the MRSEC program recommended to
invited 10 MRSEC proposals with 26 IRGs to the April/May 2017
reverse site visits (RSV).
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September 2017: 20 MRSECs
CLASS of 2014; 12 Awards: National investment in the
areas of sustainable energy, bio- and soft-materials,
polymers, nanoscience, next-generation electronics
and photonics, condensed matter physics: Brandeis,
Chicago, Colorado, Columbia, Harvard, Minnesota,
MIT, Nebraska, NYU, Ohio State, Penn State,
Princeton.
CLASS of 2017; 8 Awards: TBA by September 1, 2017