UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) has received its sixth consecutive multimillion-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund six years of operation as an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). UCSB is one of eight institutions to receive such an award this year. “These awards are representative of the incredibly broad, highly multidisciplinary research portfolio spanning all of the division-supported research areas,” said Linda Sapochak, director of the NSF Division of Materials Research. “These multidisciplinary awards will be forging new materials research frontiers through team-based development of novel electronic and photonic materials relevant to future high-tech applications.” Materials science is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates knowledge from several disciplines, including physics, chemistry, life science and engineering, to gain a better understanding of how the micro- and nano-scale structure of materials can influence their function and performance. Incorporated into these studies is research into processing and fabrication, and the development of new, high-tech materials. To view the complete story, open the attached news release, or go to http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2017/018379/six-six