Our newsletter keeps you abreast of department news and alumni updates with articles about innovative research projects, news about faculty and student honors, and stories about MSE alumni who have built successful careers in industry and academia.
In the 2017 Roberts Hall Review

- Message from the Interim Chair: Fumio Ohuchi highlights department achievements
- Faculty: Publications and awards
- Research: Washington Clean Energy Testbeds; Discovery of 2-D magnet.
- Alumni profile: Dan Sedlacek, MSMSE ’14, combines love of nature with his materials engineering studies;
- Student news: Graduating student spotlight; Students bring engineering to 5th graders
- Academics: UW and Tohoku University establish Academic Open Space
Read the full newsletter online »
Past newsletters
Research highlights include Washington Clean Energy Testbeds; kidney dialysis research; synthetic "scaffolds" for muscle regeneration, electrically pumped nano-lasers, and replacing stitches. Profile of alumnus Dan Sedlacek, MSMSE ’14. Student news, including an Amazon Catalyst grant and Women in Materials Science and Engineering
Greeting from interim chair Fumio Ohuchi; Research in cancer-fighting drugs, nanotech synced with living cells, and 'seamless' bioelectronic devices; First annual MSE Industry Day.
Graduation 2011; Larry McKnight, Distinguished Service Award; Ender Savrun, Graduation Speaker; New Kyocera Professors appointed; Alumni Spotlight on Stephen Ching & Larry Watters.
Mehmet Sarikaya explains how a sea shell was instrumental in the development of molecular biomimetics, an exciting new approach to engineering that draws on Mother Nature for inspiration. Intel Research Seattle and three MSE professors team up on organic photovoltaics, a promising technology that may one day help meet the world's growing demand for energy.
Alex Jen, Guozhong Cao and Christine Luscombe are part of a UW team that won a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to research more cost-effective solar cells. Cao led a team that doubled the efficiency of dye-sentitized solar cells using a "popcorn-ball" design. The Japanese National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) opened an office at the UW.
The Micron Laboratory for Combinatorial Materials Exploration opened in Roberts Hall, offering a unique approach to testing materials. Miqin Zhang and her team use nanoparticles to diagnose and treat brain cancer, develop poylmer nanofibers to repair cartilage, and design biosensors for use in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
The department welcomes new faculty members Christine Luscombe and Vitaly Podzorov. Luscombe proposes a research program that builds on the expertise she has gained in organic synthesis, materials and surface chemistry. Podzorov plans to study the charge carrier transport and photophysical properties of organic semiconductors.