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The possibility of achieving room temperature superconductivity took a tiny step forward with a recent discovery by a team of Penn State physicists and materials scientists.

Your next cell phone will be harder to scratch, writes WIRED. Our glass expert John Mauro of Penn State Department of Materials Science and Engineering explains why that will also limit cracks. Mauro worked for Corning® Gorilla® Glass for 18 years developing several iterations of the famed Gorilla Glass.

Through the investigation of insect surfaces, Penn State researchers have detailed a previously unidentified nanostructure that can be used to engineer stronger, more resilient water repellent coatings.

Penn State will receive more than $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy as an Energy Frontier Research Center Award. This is one of 10 awards announced in 2020, and the second EFRC awarded to Penn State researchers.

Materials research is about more than technical impact—it’s about having a human impact as well. Director of the Materials Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University Clive Randall discusses the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between scientific fields, his work on cold sintering, and his experience as a first-generation college student.

A new fundamental understanding of polymeric relaxor ferroelectric behavior could lead to advances in flexible electronics, actuators and transducers, energy storage, piezoelectric sensors and electrocaloric cooling, according to a team of researchers at Penn State and North Carolina State.

A total of 64 Erickson Discovery Grants were awarded for summer 2020, allowing for funded student research, scholarship or creative processes.

New matchbook-sized devices could convert wasted heat in our homes, offices and vehicles into an environmentally friendly source of electricity, according to a team of scientists.

Finding ways to manage the flow of heat in silicon could boost the performance of semiconductors, but, so far, discovering the right design has remained elusive. Now, a team of Penn State researchers report that a fabrication technique may offer a path toward mastering the often chaotic flow of heat carriers at the nanoscale in silicon and other semiconductors.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry, Flaschen Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was recently named an Evan Pugh University Professor, an elite distinction conferred by the University on only 73 faculty members since the establishment of the designation in 1960.