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Department Head Paul Braun has been teaching materials science and engineering basics to freshman students for years through the MSE 182 Chocolate Lecture. Students learn about the ways in which materials change under different conditions and conduct tests using samples of chocolate candy.

Ziyi Che and Jeong Woo Koo have earned PPG-MRL Graduate Research Assistantships in the fall 2026 semester. The honors from the PPG Foundation will support research broadly related to coatings science and specialty materials.

Associate Professor Jessica Krogstad and co-authors had their paper named an Editors’ Suggestion by Physical Review Materials. The study ties the characteristic thermal diffuse-scattering features in FCC metals to specific low-frequency lattice vibrations, then uses that understanding to propose measurement strategies, such as choosing particular crystal orientations, that separate thermal effects from the signal of chemical short-range order in complex alloys like stainless steels and high entropy alloys.

Jennifer Lewis, a 1986 Illinois ceramics engineering graduate, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine as a result of her impactful healthcare research, which has been focused on 3D bioprinting of soft and living materials. 

The Grainger College of Engineering announced Thursday that Qian Chen, professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar, will be the next director of the Materials Research Laboratory, effective November 1.

Assistant Professor Chris Anderson has been named a 2026 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, one of 20 early-career researchers nationwide chosen by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to receive $985,834 in unrestricted funds over five years. Anderson, the first Illinois Grainger Engineering faculty member to receive the honor since Professor Pinshane Huang in 2017, will use the funding to advance his group's work on materials that control light and quantum information.