MSE Colloquium Series
MSE TALKS
Interdisciplinary Ideas & Conversations
Fridays at 3 PM in PHO 211 – Join at 2:30 PM for a social with refreshments & networking
Next Speaker
Spring 2026 Speakers
January 30: Todd Emrick, UMass Amherst, Functional Polymer Materials
February 20: Claudia Avalos, New York University, Ferroelectrics; photophysics of Ln-doped oxides
February 27: Ashwin Ramasubramaniam, UMass Amherst, Computational Materials Science
Fall 2025 Speakers
September 19: Jillian Goldfarb, Cornell University, Carbon Recovery by Design: Modular Pathways to Advanced Materials from Hydrothermal Liquefaction Byproducts
September 26: Emily Davidson, Princeton University, Hierarchical Materials through 3D Printing and Molecular Design
MSE GRADS TALK – October 3: Emily Ghosh, Quantification of 4 Phase Microstructural Changes in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell Fuel Electrodes
October 10: Bilge Yildiz, MIT, Computing with Protons, and How to Find Better Proton Conductors
October 17: Daniel Harris, Brown University, Propulsion and Interaction of Wave-Propelled Interfacial Particles
November 7: Hongkun Park, Harvard University, Drawing “Quantum” on an Atomically Thin Canvas
MSE GRADS TALK – November 14: Zelin Miao, Boston University, Integrating Transition Metals into Coordination Chain Single-Molecule Circuits via Self-Assembly
MSE GRADS TALK – November 21: Aaron Khan, Boston University, Thermal Wave Sensing for Operando Measurement of Subsurface Electrochemical, Mechanical, and Thermal Transport Properties in Next-Generation Energy Materials
December 5: Mustafa Ordu, Bilkent University, Fiber-Based Nanogenerators for Advanced Wearable Technologies
December 12: Alon Gorodetsky, UC Irvine, Dynamic Multispectral Materials and Systems Inspired by Cephalopods
Spring 2025 Speakers
February 14: Liheng Cai, University of Virginia, Bottlebrush Polymers, Networks, and Devices
February 28: Josh Bailey, Queens University, Belfast, Towards Reliable, Customisable, and Sustainable Flow Batteries
March 7: John Rogers, Northwestern University, Soft Bioelectronic Systems as Neural Interfaces
April 25: Yuhang Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology, The Interplay Between Mechanics and Chemistry in Dynamic Polymers and Polymeric Gels
May 2: Benjamin Keselowsky, University of Florida, Engineered Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase for Immunometabolic Suppression of Inflammation
Fall 2024 Speakers
September 6: Stacy Copp, University of California, Irvine, Machine Learning-guided Discovery of Atomically Precise, DNA-stabilized Nanoclusters
September 20: Kenan Gundogdu, North Carolina State University, Room Temperature Superfluorescence in Perovskites and Its Implications for Quantum Materials
September 27: Mark Paul, Virginia Tech, Small Elastic Beams in Fluid as a Testbed to Explore Physics from the Continuum to Molecular Scales
October 4: Jasmina Burek, UMass Lowell, Evaluating Passive-Solar House Design for Sustainable Living Across the U.S.
October 18: Thomas Senftle, Rice University, Understanding Metal-Support Interactions in Catalytic Materials with Symbolic Regression
October 25: Hee-Sun Han, UIUC, Precision Measurements in Biology 2.0: How System-level Functions Emerge from Molecular Mechanism
November 1: Luyi Sun, University of Connecticut, Smart Soft Materials with Multiscale Architecture and Dynamic Surface Topographies
November 8: Farnaz Niroui, MIT, Extreme Nanodevices with Force Engineering
December 6: Kelsey Hatzell, Princeton, Seeing is Believing – How X-Ray Probes Can Help Us Image Solid State Batteries
December 13: Jerzy Sadowski, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Electron Spectro-Microscopy of 2D Materials and Devices
Spring 2024 Speakers
March 8: Ryan Sochol, University of Maryland, 3D Micro/Nanoprinted Soft Robots: From Super Mario Bros. to Minimally Invasive Surgery
March 15: B. Reeja Jayan, Carnegie Mellon University, Yes, You Can Microwave Metals… & Other Tales at the Interface of Materials and Electromagnetics
March 22: Arun Kumar Mannodi Kanakkithodi, Purdue University, Semiconductor Discovery using Multi-Fidelity DFT-ML and Crystal Graphs
March 25: Distinguished Hariri Institute/MSE Seminar– Raphaël Pestourie (he/him/his), Georgia Tech, Leveraging Surrogate Models for Scientific AI Discoveries
March 29: Qifa Zhou, University of South California, Novel Piezoelectric Materials and Devices for Vision Restoration and High-Resolution Flow Image
April 5: Jie Yin, North Carolina State University, Novel Piezoelectric Materials and Devices for Vision Restoration and High-Resolution Flow Image
April 19: Thomas Russell, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Self-Propulsion by Directed Explosive Emulsification
April 26: Yang Shao-Horn: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electrochemistry Renaissance for Climate Actions
May 3: Sarbajit Banerjee, Texas A&M University, Designing and Architecting Battery Electrode Materials Across Length Scales
May 10: Xianming (Simon) Dai, UT Dallas, Decarbonization for Electronic and Energy Systems
Fall 2023 Speakers
October 6: Emily Asenath-Smith, Dartmouth and CRREL (Army), Ice on Surfaces: A Problem of Adhesion by a Crystalline Material
October 20: Lisa Fredin, Lehigh University, Structure-Function Relationships in Metal Oxide Materials
November 17th: Xinfang Jin, Umass Lowell, Unlocking the Power of Multiscale Modeling in Energy Conversion and Storage Devices
Spring 2023 Speakers
February 2: Jesse McDaniel, Georgia Tech, Electrochemical Interfaces: Chemical Reactions and Physical Properties (hosted by MSE and Chemistry)
February 10: Xuanhe Zhao, MIT, Soft Materials Innovation for Health and Sustainability
April 14: Seo Hyoung, Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Exploring Energy Materials using Advanced Hard X-ray Scattering Techniques
April 21: William Polacheck, UNC, Arteries on Chip: Vascular Fluid-Structure Interactions in Health and Disease
April 28: Matthieu Fortin-Deschenes, Yale University, Direct Growth of Tunable Moiré Heterostructures
May 5: Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University, Soft-Matter Engineering for Robotics and Wearables
Fall 2022 Speakers
September 16: Nitin Padture, Brown University, The Promise of Halide Perovskite Solar Photovoltaics
September 23: Sijia Dong, Northeastern University, Excited-State Simulations of Complex Molecules and Materials with Combined First Principles and Machine Learning Approaches
September 30: Tracy Cui, University of Pittsburgh, Biomaterials Strategies Towards Seamless Neural Tissue-Device Interface
October 21, Rebecca Taylor, Carnegie Mellon University, Instrumenting the Cell Surface – Emerging Tools for Mechanobiology
November 11, Lincoln Miara, VP of Electrode Development, Pure Lithium, The Design and Discovery of Battery Materials
Spring 2022 Speakers
Fall 2021 Speakers
October 1: James Valles, Brown University
November 5: Paul Gasper, NREL
November 12: Stephanie Bryant
December 10: Simon Billinge
Fall 2020 & Spring 2021
October 9: Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University | Flyer
Spring 2020
January 31: Alejo Lifschitz, Dupont | Flyer
Postponed due to COVID-19: Gang Han, University of Massachusetts Medical School (8/25)
Postponed due to COVID-19: Nitin Padture, Brown University
Postponed due to COVID-19: Yu Zhong, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Postponed due to COVID-19: Sokrates Pantelides, Vanderbilt University
Fall 2019
September 13: Pierre Darancet, Argonne National Lab | Flyer
September 20: Robert Macfarlane, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Flyer
October 4: Minh Nguyen, HRL Laboratories | Flyer
October 11: William Tisdale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Flyer
October 18: Trisha L. Andrew, University of Massachusetts Amherst | Flyer
October 25: Sohrab Ismail-Beigi, Yale University | Flyer
November 8: Ou Chen, Brown University | Flyer
November 15: Ilija Zeljkovic, Boston College | Flyer
December 6: Giulia Galli, University of Chicago | Flyer
Spring 2019
February 8: Sheila Russo, Boston University | Flyer
February 22: Michelle Sander, Boston University | Flyer
March 1: Enrico Bellotti, Boston University | Flyer
March 22: Matt Sfeir, City University of New York | Flyer
March 29: Arturo J. Vegas, Boston University | Flyer
April 12: Bing Xu, Brandeis University | Flyer
April 26: Jonathan Owen, Columbia University | Flyer
Fall 2018
September 28: Francis Spano, Temple University | Flyer
October 5: Jiwoong Park, University of Chicago | Flyer
October 12: Susanna Thon, Johns Hopkins University | Flyer
October 19: Sigurd Wagner, Princeton University | Flyer
November 2: Chen Yang, Boston University | Flyer
November 9: Jessica Wagenseil, Washington University | Flyer
November 30: Emily Pentzer, Case Western Reserve University | Flyer
December 7: Efthimios Kaxiras, Harvard University | Flyer
Spring 2018
February 2: David Nelson, Harvard University
February 9: Masha Kamenetska, Boston University
February 16: Jeehwan Kim, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
March 16: Mikhail Zhernenkov, Brookhaven National Laboratory
March 23: Shailesh Vora, US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory
April 6: Eric Wachsman, University of Maryland
April 13: Serdar Ogut, University of Illinois at Chicago
April 20: Hendrik Bluhm, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
April 27: Meilin Liu, Georgia Tech
Fall 2017
September 22 Schlumberger Annual Materials Science Lecture: Hongjie Dai, Stanford University
October 6: Jeffrey Grossman, MIT
October 27: Jacob Trevino, CUNY
November 3: Jongyoon Han, MIT
November 17: Mete Atature, Cambridge University
November 29: Jayakanth Ravichandran, University of Southern California
December 8: Qimin Yan, Temple University
Spring 2017
February 10: Nick Vamivakas, University of Rochester
March 16: Dr. A. S. Khanna, Indian Institute of Technology
March 24: Michael Zdilla, Temple University
March 31: Geneviève Sauvé, Case Western Reserve
April 7: Mansoor Barati, University of Toronto
April 21: Jas Sanghera, Naval Research Labs
April 28: Jarrod Milshtein, MIT
May 5: Yogesh Surendranath, MIT
Fall 2016
October 28: Antione Allanore, MIT
November 4: Diran Apelian, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
November 18: Marc Garbey, University of Houston
Prior to Fall 2016
Spring 2016
January 29: David Cahill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
February 12: Kurt Sickafus, University of Tennessee
February 19: Efstathios “Stathis” I. Meletis, University of Texas at Arlington
April 6th: Joseph Woicik, National Institute of Standards and Technology
April 8: Dibyendu Mukherjee, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
April 15: Peggy Cebe, Tufts University
Fall 2015
August 14: Kookheon Char, Seoul National University
September 11: Charles Eddy, US Naval Research Lab
October 2: L. Lee Chou, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University
October 23: Zi Chen, Dartmouth College
October 30: Andrew Bocarsly, Princeton University
November 13: Marion H. Emmert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
November 20: Candan Tamerler, University of Kansas
December 4: Sanat Kumar, Columbia University
Spring 2015
January 23: Byung Hee Hong, Seoul National University
March 20: Shanta Dhar, University of Georgia
May 18: Catherine K. Kuo, Tufts University
Fall 2014
September 12: Herbert Shea, Microsystems for Space Technologies Laboratory at EPFL
September 18: Anton Malko, The University of Texas at Dallas
October 17: Dimitrios Maroudas, University of Massachusetts Amherst
October 24: Nandini Trivedi, Ohio State University
October 29: Alan Lakshminarayanan, Amedica
October 31: Dalin Tang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
November 7: Michael Hickner, Pennsylvania State University
November 14: James H. Dickerson, Brookhaven National Laboratory
November 21: Wesley Wong, Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital
December 5: Art Ramirez, University of California, Santa Cruz
December 5: Lijie Grace Zhang, George Washington University