News: Materials Science & Energy Research

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

Research

New 3D Printing Method Makes Affordable, Realistic Replicas as Structurally Complex as a Human Hand

The CRAFT method uses widely available materials and inexpensive commercial 3D printers.

Four panels show a 3D printed model of a human hand. One panel shows a grayscale image used for the printing, two show the printed hand and the final panel shows cross sections of the wrist, highlighting hard and soft regions.

Research

Superfluids are Supposed to Flow Indefinitely. Physicists Just Watched One Stop Moving.

Researchers may have glimpsed a supersolid, an enigmatic quantum version of a classical solid.

An artist's illustration shows two thin layers of material stacked one on top of the other, each with an array of atoms represented by dots. The top layer's dots are blue, the bottom layer's dots are read.

Accolades

Allan MacDonald Wins Frontiers of Knowledge Award

The UT Austin physicist was one of two scientists to win the international prize in the category of basic sciences.

A man in a collared shirt and glasses smiles, standing before a chalkboard with equations.

UT News

Governor Abbott Announces Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund Grant To Texas Quantum Institute

The announcement notes: “UT Austin is where world-changing discoveries in quantum research and development are being made.”

Illustration shows how atom-thin materials enable control of individual photons of light

Texas Quantum Institute

Quantum Leap for STEM Graduate Training at UT

A new initiative will prepare graduate students in the rapidly evolving field of quantum science and technology.

Illustration shows how atom-thin materials enable control of individual photons of light

Research

3D Printing Breakthrough Paves Way for Next-Gen Medical Devices and Stretchable Electronics

New methods for printing objects lead to materials with the flexibility, strength and complexity that nature offers.

A 3D printed object contains multiple interlocking layers of circles.

Research

Unlock Your Computer with a Password-encoded Molecule

University of Texas at Austin researchers have developed a new method to encode information in synthetic molecules.

A multilayered rendering of atoms and molecules of varying colors suggests a complex structure at work.

Research

UT Scientists Spied a Skyrmion. What is That?

This, and six other questions about a recent first in physics, answered.

A 3D vector field plot illustrating the direction and magnitude of vectors in a plane. Arrows are color-coded: blue arrows point towards a spot below the left side, red arrows point towards a point above the right side, and green arrows indicate intermediate directions and magnitudes.

Accolades

Guggenheim Foundation Names 3 at UT in 100th Class of Fellows

Swarat Chaudhuri, a computer scientist, and Feliciano Giustino, a physicist, are among this year’s fellows.

Three headshots are surrounded by graphics representing the Guggenheim Foundation and UT Austin.

Features

How UT Students are Fueling Energy Research

From advancing sustainability to enhancing efficiencies, student researchers are a part of UT’s energy story.

Collage imaging featuring solar panel cells, switchgrass bundles and test tube of dye.