UC San Diego Program in Materials Science and Engineering

Congratulations Arturo! For the publication of your first paper as a doctoral student (doi.org/10.1016/j.js...).

You have come a long one since you participated in the UCSD ENLACE summer research program. Keep it going!

3 ways UC science is healing broken hearts UC labs are developing new treatments that don’t just prevent damage from getting worse, but — for the first time in medical history — actually help the heart heal.

Thank you Professor Christman! For all your efforts in healing and repairing hearts. Outstanding research!

www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/3-ways-...

Congratulations Professor Dayeh! What an outstanding new facility.

today.ucsd.edu/story/first-...

Adventures in Superconductivity: A Conversation with Brian Maple UC San Diego Professor of Physics Brian Maple is an alumnus who has been with the university since the 1960s. In this Q&A, he discusses his work in condensed matter physics, his long tenure at UC San ...

Professor Maple: We are so proud to have you in our program. You are an inspiration to all of us.” today.ucsd.edu/story/advent...

Osteogenic Potential and Hemocompatibility of Rare-Earth-Doped Hydroxyapatite in Murine Preosteoblast Cells We describe the osteogenic potential and hemocompatibility of rare-earth-doped hydroxyapatite in a murine preosteoblastic (MC3T3-E1) cell line, aiming to assess the osteoblast differentiation effect o...

Congratulations Dr. Fabian Martinez (our MATS Academy instructor) for your recent article in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, on the osteogenic potential of doped hydroxyapatite (pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...).

Excellent work Fabian!

Did You Know These 7 Things About the Stuart Collection? Forget velvet ropes and motion sensors. The Stuart Collection makes UC San Diego itself the museum — an open-air gallery of public art where every walk to class can feel like a treasure hunt.

Did You Know These 7 Things About the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego?

today.ucsd.edu/story/did-yo...

ARPA-H Project Awarded at UC San Diego Aims to End Liver Transplant Shortage with 3D Bioprinting An up to $25.8 million research project at UC San Diego, funded by ARPA-H and led by chemical and nano engineering professor Shaochen Chen, aims to tackle the critical shortage of donor organs by deve...

Congratulations Professor Chen! With your new ARPA-H funds, you will be able to solve many health care issues. Outstanding!

today.ucsd.edu/story/arpa-h...

Three UC San Diego Professors Inducted Into the National Academy of Inventors for 2025 Three professors at the University of California San Diego have been elected to the 2025 Class of Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): Ping Liu, Bernhard Palsson and Alan Saltiel. They ...

Congratulations Professor Liu! We are so proud of you in your induction to the National Academy of Inventors. Your achievements are being recognized.

today.ucsd.edu/story/three-...

Nobel Prize-Winning Metal-Organic Frameworks Are the Jungle Gyms of Chemistry UC San Diego chemistry professor Seth Cohen has made a career out of studying and developing metal-organic frameworks. Currently, his lab is working to develop modified MOFs with new characteristics a...

Congratulations Professor Cohen! Your work on metal-organic frameworks is groundbreaking. Thank you for providing us answers to interesting questions on these Nobel-prize winning materials.

today.ucsd.edu/story/metal-...

Embodied AI Research Takes Center Stage at San Diego Robotics Forum The San Diego Robotics Forum celebrated its 10th anniversary Nov. 5, 2025 with talks from startup founders who are also alumni, entrepreneur guest speakers, and engineering faculty whose work probes t...

Congratulations Professors Yip and Gravish! What an outstanding event moving forward the field of robotics.

today.ucsd.edu/story/embodi...

Upgraded UC San Diego Facility Accelerates Efforts to Develop Materials for Fusion Reactor Walls A newly upgraded fusion research facility at UC San Diego is expected to reduce the time and cost required to develop and demonstrate new materials that are fit to line the walls of fusion reactors.

Congratulations Professor Tynan! You continue to push the frontiers of knowledge in fusion research materials. today.ucsd.edu/story/upgrad...

New Alloy Design Could Power Solid-state Batteries that Charge Faster and Last Longer Engineers have developed a new design strategy for metal alloy negative electrodes that could significantly improve the performance and durability of next-generation solid-state batteries. The work co...

Congratulations Professor Chen! Your work on new alloy strategies for batteries is outstanding.

today.ucsd.edu/story/new-al...

California’s fusion energy industry could bring $125B, 40K jobs to the state

The PISCES research program at UC San Diego, led by Professor George Tynan, is critical to the development and success of magnetic confinement fusion. Congratulations on your successes Professor Tynan! jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/release...

If you want to learn more about the UCSD Program in Materials Science and Engineering please join us during one of these info sessions :
- Wed. November 5, 5:00-6:00pm
- Thurs. November 20, 3:00-4:00pm
- Fri. December 5, 4:00-5:00pm

matsci.ucsd.edu/admissions

Breakthrough Advances Sodium-Based Battery Design

At UC San Diego we continue outstanding work on battery development using AI and machine learning techniques. Congratulations Professor Ong!

today.ucsd.edu/story/breakt...

This Robotic Skin Allows Tiny Robots to Navigate Complex, Fragile Environments Researchers developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots that are just a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments.

Congratulations Professor Shengqiang Cai for your amazing collaboration and impactful work on the development of soft robots
today.ucsd.edu/story/this-r...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Beyond borders: Building a world without walls - Olivia Graeve on STEAMers

An interview with Professor Olivia Graeve (open.spotify.com/episode/5kX6...) in STEAMers!

A podcast directed by ENLACE alumna Valentina Muñoz (resilientmaterials.ucsd.edu/ENLACE).

Overcoming energy disorder for cavity-enabled energy transfer in vibrational polaritons Energy disorder is ubiquitous in chemistry and physics. It can suppress polariton delocalization by disrupting molecular coherence–limiting polariton-modified properties. We investigated how energy di...

Congratulations Professor Xiong! On your outstanding work related to vibrational polaritons

(www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...)

Admissions for the UC San Diego Program in Materials Science and Engineering (MATS) are now open through January 4th, 2026 (01/04/26)

matsci.ucsd.edu/admissions

From Lebanon’s Vineyards to Vision Restoration Growing up in rural Lebanon, tinkering with cars and working the grape harvest gave professor Shadi Dayeh a hands-on foundation that now informs his innovations in brain mapping and potentially vision...

Congratulations Professor Dayeh! Your work on vision-restoring technologies will no doubt bring hope to many.

today.ucsd.edu/story/from-l...

Direct observation of plastic deformation in diamond under extreme loading High-power pulsed laser-driven shock compression was conducted on [001]-oriented single-crystalline diamond specimens encapsulated in impedance-matche…

Congratulations Prof. Meyers for your outstanding publication in Matter regarding tiny defects in diamond. Diamond is such a well-known material, and with our MATS student Boya Li, you still found new science. Excellent work!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

today.ucsd.edu/story/resear...

Simple Algorithm Paired with Standard Imaging Tool Could Predict Failure in Lithium Metal Batteries A simple yet powerful method to characterize how lithium deposits in lithium metal batteries could lead to the development of safer, longer-lasting and more energy dense batteries for electric vehicle...

Congratulations Professor Liu on your recent imaging developments for batteries. Outstanding! And also very much congratulations to our MATS student Jenny, as the first author on this new discovery.

today.ucsd.edu/story/simple...

What was your Summer escape before returning to school this Fall?
MATS Faculty, Prof. Marc Meyers, got out from the lab and made the hike to the peak of Mt. Huron in CO. (14,000+ feet) Our Engineers are always looking to push themselves to 'new heights' and Prof. Meyers has always led by example!

UC San Diego Hosts Finale of Nationwide Nanotech Summer Research Program Undergraduates from around the country recently gathered at the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute to present the outcomes of their nanotechnology summer research projects.

Our Qualcomm Institute always has amazing opportunities for students. Thank you! And thank you to our student Ricardo for supporting this program in such an effective way.

today.ucsd.edu/story/qi-hos...

Defect-Mediated Electrical Conduction and Piezoelectricity in Hydroxyapatite Nanofibers We report the influence of vacancy point defects on the conductivity and piezoelectricity of hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanofibers. A combination of experimental techniques, including conductive atomic force microscopy, electrostatic force microscopy, and switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy, along with computational modeling, was employed to elucidate the conduction mechanisms and charge accumulation effects in HAp. Our findings demonstrate that oxygen and calcium vacancy defects play a crucial role in the conduction mechanism of HAp nanofibers, specifically through charge-trapping and detrapping processes, as well as in charge accumulation and the piezoelectric response. The Poole–Frenkel conduction mechanism was confirmed by fitting experimental current–voltage data to a theoretical model, revealing a dielectric constant consistent with previously reported theoretical values. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of point defects in the electrical and piezoelectric properties of HAp, which is essential for optimizing its performance in biomedical applications.

Congratulations Professor Graeve in the publication on your recent work on the electronic properties of hydroxyapatite. Outstanding effort that continues evolving the understanding of bone materials! (doi.org/10.1021/acs....)

Engineers Take a Closer Look at How a Plant Virus Primes the Immune System to Fight Cancer A virus that typically infects black-eyed peas is showing great promise as a low-cost, potent cancer immunotherapy—and researchers are uncovering why.

Congratulations Professor Steinmetz! Your work on plant viruses, and its connection to human health is truly outstanding.

today.ucsd.edu/story/engine...

Check out this fascinating new paper published in Matter by recent UCSD Materials Science and Engineering graduate Dr. Boya Li (first author) and her faculty advisor Dr. Marc Meyers.

Direct observation of plastic deformation in diamond
under extreme loading 💎⚡

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lSN99Cyxd...

The Robot Will See You Now As waiting rooms fill up, doctors get increasingly burnt out, and surgeries take longer to schedule and more get cancelled, humanoid surgical robots offer a solution. That’s the argument that UC San D...

Congratulations Professor Yip! Your work on helper robots in the medical field is outstanding and inspirational.
🤖⚕️
today.ucsd.edu/story/the-ro...

Wristband Sensor Provides All-in-one Monitoring for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Care A new wearable wristband could significantly improve diabetes management by continuously tracking not only glucose but also other chemical and cardiovascular signals that influence disease progression...

Congratulations Professor Wang and Professor Xu for your outstanding work on ultrasonic sensors using nanotechnology! You are changing lives by enhancing health care.

today.ucsd.edu/story/wristb...

For Tastier and Hardier Citrus, Researchers Built a Tool for Probing Plant Metabolism A new tool allows researchers to probe the metabolic processes within the leaves, stems, and roots of a key citrus crop, the clementine. The big goal is to improve the yields, flavor and nutrition of ...

Congratulations Professor Zengler! Exciting work, in collaboration with Mexico, on improving crop yields and nutritional value of citrus fruits.

today.ucsd.edu/story/for-ta...