Focus area Advanced materials, design and manufacturing

Laying a foundation for the future

Creating the products and equipment of tomorrow requires innovations in the very materials from which they will be made, as well as transformational advances in new design and manufacturing approaches that are enabled by these materials. Digital manufacturing has the capacity to transform the workflow from material design to product, and we work at the frontier to shape this transformation.

We’re engineering the future through:

Breakthroughs in emerging materials to enable next-generation devices
New design and manufacturing approaches that use these new materials
Accelerating production and enhancing the economic value of these material developments
Identifying and rolling out new application domains enabled by these advances

What we are specifically focusing on

Production systems and analysis

Advanced manufacturing and industrial AI (industrial and systems engineering)

Soft-materials and process modeling

Biomaterials and tissue engineering (biomedical engineering)
Mechanics (mechanical engineering)
Soft and hybrid materials (materials science and engineering)
Advanced Manufacturing (mechanical engineering)

Additive manufacturing and design

Advanced manufacturing and industrial AI (industrial and systems engineering)
Advanced Manufacturing (mechanical engineering)
Computational engineering and design (mechanical engineering)

Smart and precision manufacturing

Computational materials and informatics (materials science and engineering)
Manufacturing (mechanical engineering)

Optics and photonics

Biomedical imaging and optics (biomedical engineering)
Optics and photonics (electrical and computer engineering)

Plasma science and technology

Plasma science and fusion energy (electrical and computer engineering)
Experimental plasma physics (nuclear engineering and engineering physics)

Solid-state electronics and quantum technologies

Solid-state electronics and quantum technologies (electrical and computer engineering)
Electronic and quantum materials (materials science and engineering)

Novel materials with extreme and unique properties

Materials, polymers and transport processes (chemical and biological engineering)
Mechanics (mechanical engineering)
Nuclear and fusion materials (nuclear engineering and engineering physics)

Material characterization and modification for extreme environments

Materials for constructed facilities (civil and environmental engineering)
Materials for extreme environments and advanced manufacturing (materials science and engineering)

Engineering research news

We are known for world-changing discoveries, and we collaborate with each other, with colleagues across the globe, and with industry and government partners to develop solutions to the challenging problems not only of today, but of the future. Dig into our latest research news and endeavors!

All research news