Penn State’s Materials Research Laboratory And Materials Research Institute To Merge

November 17, 2000
University Park, Pa. - Penn State’s Board of Trustees today (Nov. 17) approved the merger of Penn State’s Materials Research Laboratory and Penn State’s Materials Research Institute. The merger will occur on July 1, 2001 and the new organization will be known as the Materials Research Institute.

The new institute builds on the success in materials research at Penn State, including the activities associated with the Materials Research Laboratory, which helped found and develop the interdisciplinary field of materials in the early 1960s.

The number of Penn State faculty now engaged in materials education and research has grown to more than 150 and includes representatives from the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Earth and Mineral Sciences, and the Eberly College of Science. This year, U.S. News & World Report ranked Penn State 7^th nationally in materials in its issue on America’s Best Graduate Schools 2001.

University-wide, total annual research expenditures in materials are now over $50 million.

Penn State faculty have been involved in a number of recent, major successes, including:

• The state-supported Center for Innovative Sintered Products (CISP),
• The NSF-supported National Nano-Fabrication User’s Network (NNUN) facility,
• The W. M. Keck Foundation-supported facility for the fabrication of Smart Materials and Devices, and
• The NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Collective Phenomena in Porous Hosts.

The merger is designed to capitalize on and to spearhead the continued growth in the materials field at Penn State.

The new MRI will promote and support interdisciplinary materials research throughout the University by maintaining state of the art characterization facilities. The Institute will nurture new initiatives in materials research and education, provide a focal point for students, government and industry, and enhance the visibility of Penn State’s materials activities.

Contact: Andrea Messer (814) 865-9581 or email at