“There are lots of different agents that are interacting, including the usual players—humans—which could be big entities, like corporations, governments, or other institutions,” explained Vijay Subramanian professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and project director What we want to understand is: how do these computational agents interact?” Game theory models how individuals strategize and make decisions Each player should attempt to maximize their progress toward an individual or shared goal This information could include the rules of the game—such as in poker or trading in the stock market—as well as any knowledge about the other players’ goals or intentions When none of the players can improve their outcomes by changing their decisions alone the game has reached a state called equilibrium and even biology have developed game theory to predict the outcomes and equilibria of various scenarios AI systems are overtaking humans in their ability to quickly handle and process huge amounts of data adding an element of the unknown into these assessments Our goal is to transcend existing theory and develop new theory that can address this mixture of autonomous “The existing theory makes very stringent assumptions on the computing or reasoning capabilities of agents—and the AI agents that I mentioned need not have all of those,” said Subramanian “Our goal is to transcend that and develop new theory that can address this mixture of autonomous If the research team can predict the outcomes of interactions that involve AI agents they can design environments and projects to be carried out more efficiently and accurately One real-world example of a scenario that would benefit from this type of analysis is the rescue and cleanup operations in a disaster zone—say humans may work together with robots to clear debris from the area and provide medical care to injured survivors.  but they get signals from and have to follow the humans And the humans have to react to these agents as well,” Subramanian said “It’s important to understand how such systems would perform and come up with an algorithm to get the system to achieve your goals.” “You will have some agents that are more capable and some that are less capable,” he added “Can the more capable agents direct the systems toward achieving their objectives more often?” In addition to the complexities introduced by the presence of multiple types of agents the players must anticipate or react to any environmental changes produced by their actions in the context of rescue and cleanup operations in a disaster zone it may become easier for humans and robots to move around; conversely further obstacles could be created by falling debris that restricts movement or alters the number of workers These types of complex scenarios have presented challenges to existing game theory Subramanian’s team aims to bring together the many years of game theory development that incorporate dynamic settings with the mixed capabilities of today’s AI agents Other examples of modern multi-agent systems include combatting poachers; assessing the likelihood of and thereafter preventing systemic failures in the financial system like the Great Depression (1930s) and the Great Recession (2000s); and deploying fleets of automated cars “We are thinking of the methodology being composed of three core components,” Subramanian said “Agents have to form the models of each other we have to create algorithms that estimate those models and make decisions we must understand what the outcomes result in These three things together predict equilibria—their interplay will determine what happens in the game.” helping the researchers predict the outcomes of their modeled scenarios If the outcome doesn’t satisfy their goals or the incentives to direct the result toward preferred configurations The research will be conducted with MURI collaborators Dirk Bergemann (Yale University) Avrim Blum (Toyota Technological Institute Chicago) Rahul Jain (University of Southern California) Elchanan Mossel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Omer Tamuz (California Institute of Technology) « Back the interactions between them can lead to new properties not seen in either constituent Historically such stacking has been limited to materials with matching lattice constants grown epitaxially The advent of van der Waals (vdW) materials have now removed these restrictions allowing the stacking of materials with arbitrary thicknesses twisting two crystals provides unique control over their symmetries This emergent field of twist-optics seeks to exploit this new degree of freedom and promises to be transformative in enabling new paradigms for dynamically manipulating light with exotic polarization and chirality for optical communication including a suite of vdWs materials and their suite of thicknesses thereby making device design and fabrication exceptionally challenging In this proposal we seek to develop a generalized model driving material selection photonic and electro-optic properties within the linear and nonlinear regimes We seek to develop an iterative design workflow that integrates first principles calculations of materials properties Our process flow will include not just the electronic interactions between two vdW materials but also bulk materials and artificial metasurfaces expanding the impact of twist-optics by including artificial materials with designable optical response and/or integration within conventional semiconductor optic and electro-optic devices We seek to address three fundamental questions: 1) What is the role of crystal twist in dictating interlayer electronic and polaritonic coupling and emergent symmetries in regard to driving novel optical and optoelectronic processes 2) How can we control the scale of localization and slow light using moiré and twist-optic phenomena in heterogeneous systems to amplify optical and optoelectronic processes 3) How can the influence of lattice twist induced changes in vdWs forces be generalized for the control of polaritonic losses and their scattering phase space We propose to answer these questions through our three tasks and fabrication processes outlined in our Tasks page Our research will show how these concepts can be employed to create wavelength conversion components polarization optics and electro-optic modulators these new technologies will be significantly smaller than current generation components Through integrating these components with existing technologies these have the potential to enable revolutionary internet-of-things edge computing and sensing applications for military or security These include self-driving or -flying military vehicles and self-targeting weapons with ability to see around corners or noisy environments addressing many of the key priorities for the DoD research as illustrated by the potential impact of this work upon multiple Naval S&T Focus Areas Nashville, Tennessee 37240 615-322-7311 • Contact Us Vanderbilt University’s Online Privacy Notice Earth and Mineral Sciences$4.5M grant to fund 3D-printed high-performance ceramics projectRobert Hickey assistant professor of materials science and engineering $4.5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant to use light energy to create high-performance ceramic materials at lower temperatures than previously possible — High-performance ceramics that can withstand extreme temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius and rapid changes in temperature without degradation enable hypersonic vehicles in aerospace and defense applications but current technologies limit their production using laser processing may help produce these materials at lower temperatures potentially enabling fabrication via 3D printing associate professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State $4.5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant by the U.S through the Office of Naval Research (ONR) titled “Photochemical and Photothermal Additive Manufacturing of Preceramic Polymers,” seeks to create a one-step process to produce ultra-high-temperature ceramic materials without bulk heating The team is focusing on the potential of using light to convert polymer precursor molecules — starting materials that are easy to process — into the final ceramic product “The big problem currently in forming ceramics is the high temperatures and high energy required,” Hickey said which is currently very hard to do precisely with these materials.” Converting polymer precursors to ceramics currently involves heating the materials in bulk to high temperatures — a process that can lose as much as 50% of the precursor material The process can also change the geometry of the finished ceramic parts contributing to the trickiness of precise 3D printing the scientists estimate that they can produce chemical reactions in the precursor materials that will allow them to rapidly densify into hardened ceramic materials without bulk heating because heating materials with light leads to faster processing than traditional thermal methods “There's a major need to try to reduce the energy necessary to convert or make these ceramics and to prevent major geometry changes after printing and processing,” Hickey said we are looking at how to convert polymers into ceramics using light with the ultimate goal of 3D printing high-performance ceramics.” In addition to Penn State and Michigan State the team also includes researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Southern California (USC) The MURI program involves teams of researchers investigating high-priority topics and opportunities that intersect more than one traditional technical discipline this multidisciplinary approach serves to stimulate innovations accelerate research progress and expedite transition of results into naval applications “This project funding is critical to bring together a world-class team with partners that have unique skills and that have displayed outstanding results in their individual programs and through existing and previous collaborations including Penn State with our decades-long traditions in ceramic science and materials chemistry and our long history of participating in DoD-focused research,” said Benjamin Lear professor of chemistry at Penn State and a co-principal investigator (PI) on the project MIT and USC are ideal partners in this work and already have existing ties between computational and experimental researchers on this team.” The project will involve synthesizing novel precursors exploring different ways to promote light-based ceramic conversion gaining computational insights into the reaction conversion pathways and feeding the insights back to precursor design and synthesis “It’s a combination of experiment and simulation theory,” Hickey said “We will feed our initial results into our simulations which can then predict new polymer precursors that will provide even better results this feedback loop where we're being informed by theory and simulation will help us to redesign new polymer materials Simulation can also point the way towards chemistries that we haven’t considered experimentally.” The findings could have future DoD impacts in the area of advanced hypersonic vehicles The ability to additively form ceramic materials that can perform at ultra-high temperatures into new shapes significantly opens the design window for advanced re-entry vehicles “This program will open new avenues to additive manufacturing ceramic materials across a number of high-temperature metal carbides such as silicon carbide and silicon nitride,” said Adri van Duin Penn State distinguished professor of mechanical engineering and a co-PI new computational capability will be built to predict high-energy reaction intermediates which will be used to design new precursors and processing regimes.” Also contributing from Penn State is Jon-Paul Maria professor of materials science and engineering professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Southern California and Alexander Radosevich “One major aspect of this MURI is to study some of the basic issues of these newly discovered semiconductors, which can potentially lead to next-generation microelectronic devices and circuits operating at incredibly high temperatures and speeds and with much reduced size and improved efficiency,” said Zetian Mi professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering controlled by the application of an electric field to the material This allows the efficient storage of data in the polarization state even when the device is switched off or the electrical field is removed “Light can switch these materials a million times faster than in current electronics, enabling completely new prospects for AI and quantum applications alike,” said co-PI Mack Kira The MURI team also aims to enhance the nonlinear optical properties and stability of the ferroelectric material while reducing its energy loss and the electric field intensity required to switch the polarization These objectives may be achieved during the production process when the ferroelectric material is “grown,” or deposited as high-purity crystals onto an existing surface Mi and his collaborators will leverage quantum-material and -dynamics theory to guide material and photonics engineering realized with state-of-the-art synthesis including plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition “This material has the potential to enable a quantum transduction for quantum photonic integrated circuits that will be able to convert light efficiently from ultraviolet-visible to infrared as is needed to flexibly connect future quantum computers and sensors,” Mi said “These quantum mechanisms can be optimized to potentially switch memories at the clock speed of a light oscillation enabling lossless ultrafast transitions between electronic states essential for next-generation AI and quantum applications,“ added Kira.  Quantum transduction could increase quantum computing power by seamlessly connecting a network of quantum computers and sensors through fiber-optic wires that support infrared light although some quantum devices themselves operate in the microwave frequency range Ultrafast switching could also increase computing speeds by a millionfold enabling electronics to switch faster than scattering occurs and potentially paving the way for quantum information integration in traditional computers Mi and Kira envision both advancements could take place on a single semiconductor chip—a much more space and energy efficient model than previously possible The research will be conducted with additional MURI collaborators Manos Kioupakis and Robert Hovden at Michigan as well as Hongping Zhao (Ohio State University) Alan Doolittle (Georgia Institute of Technology) Susan Trolier-McKinstry (Pennsylvania State University) entitled “AI-Guided Self-Organization: Tailoring Disorder to Shape Complex Nonlinear Dynamics,” is led by Professors Hui Cao and Logan Wright at Yale University Self-organization through synchronization is a principle underlying the behaviour of complex systems these nonlinear systems can organize themselves into regular spatial or spatio-temporal structures that could not be predicted from the behavior of the individual elements.  we are using some new ideas from AI to control the self-organization in several electronic devices.” Winful will bring his expertise in coupled laser arrays to the MURI having spent his early career developing the theory still universally used to describe their behavior He is currently working with an undergraduate “is excellent and already functioning like an advanced graduate student on the project.” A newly-hired postdoc The MURI team will use semiconductor laser arrays and multimode fiber lasers to model complex nonlinear dynamics Other members of the team will also work with superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and analog electronic oscillators they aim to develop and train a generalized artificial intelligence (AI) system to control and encourage cooperation between complex physical systems Enhancing cooperation between lasers could increase their combined output by the number of coupled lasers squared with implications for new areas of plasma research—important for scaling nuclear fusion as a clean energy source—the development of next-generation x-rays Their vision for this AI system is inspired by the Google DeepMind AI that learned to outperform the average human at Atari video games in 2015 and physics theory that they refer to as “smart disorder,” which suggests that “if disorder can be added to a physical system with sufficient care it may be possible to finally conquer the self-organization of real they hope to develop something akin to a “large physics model” that could predict the evolution of complex physical systems this project also revives a hope that he kindled as a new faculty member joining ECE in January 1987—to synchronise the activity of an array of lasers such that their output will compound into a single researchers had already been working on mastering this phenomenon Winful was so singularly intrigued by this topic at the time he selected his University of Michigan username to reflect it: arrays@umich for the laser arrays he wanted to phase-lock “I thought it would be a temporary uniqname,” he recalled with a good-natured laugh to tackle the theoretical aspect of this challenge with him they derived and solved the equations that described the behavior of coupled semiconductor lasers The result: random-looking but predictable behavior chaos is governed by deterministic differential equations that describe how the system will evolve over time Winful’s research also demonstrated spontaneous synchrony between subsets of chaotically-behaving lasers in an array “I was used to studying nonlinear systems that can behave in strange ways,” he said “My previous experience with nonlinear systems—single lasers—was that if you coupled them together you could see instabilities that were not present in the uncoupled lasers I approached the problem trying to see what interesting phenomena would occur and also try to understand why people had such a hard time getting laser arrays to operate in phase I wanted to be able to crack that problem.” lacking a promising solution to the problem of stable in-phase phase-locking remains foundational to the field of laser array dynamics and led Cao and Wright to reach out to him in 2023 with a request to join their MURI team Using AI to control the synchronization of the lasers and “shake” the system with targeted disorder into phase-locking could be the solution to Winful’s original problem the MURI team includes Steven Anlage (University of Maryland College Park) and Tsampikos Kottos (Wesleyan University) as co-PIs These collaborators have existing experience with experiments using machine learning to control complex physical systems in the laboratory A creek 45 miles northeast of Sitka is getting a makeover this summer Forest Service approved the Muri Creek Stream Restoration Project earlier this month Muri Creek is nestled next to a remote bay on Chichagof Island about three-and-a-half miles from Tenakee Springs Marty Becker is the watershed program coordinator for the U.S will restore an area damaged by clear-cutting in the 1960’s “The flood plain and the stream banks and the old riparian stand were and it’s had trouble adjusting and healing over time,” Becker said Two back-to-back storms in 2020 increased erosion in the area leaving a shallow stream bed that goes dry during periods of low flow and also floods rapidly making it hard for healthy vegetation to grow.  “[The storms] really wreaked havoc on this stream,” he said “It really blew out the banks even worse.” Becker said a team will use heavy equipment to place about 150 young-growth trees and root wads along the stream banks and floodplains – something that would naturally occur through windfalls over time the water slows down on the floodplains and deposits sediments and those flood plains can start rebuilding and vegetation can regrow.” “So we’re going to take trees from previously harvested un-thinned stands that are dense canopies with little undergrowth,” Becker said “And we’re going to thin those stands to improve deer habitat and use those thinned trees to then haul over to Muri Creek and put in that system to restore it.” The project is classified as a categorical exclusion meaning it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the human environment The Forest Service said analysis showed “no adverse effect” to protected species or habitat Becker said the Forest Service has completed similar projects across the Tongass National Forest “We’ve done stream restoration with large wood using heavy equipment on almost every district so from Yakutat all the way down to Prince of Wales and Ketchikan,” Becker said Becker estimated that tree sourcing will start in May and stream restoration will take place in June and early July KCAW Prize Drawings: click on the links for rules and winner info A Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project proposal led by Rice University’s Naomi Halas won $7.5 million over five years from the United States Department of Defense (DOD) Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) 713-348-0000 | Privacy Policy | Campus Carry Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page: Explore the mysterious creature-filled Wildwoods as a Muri Restore the world’s beauty in this cozy adventure Step into the tiny metaphorical shoes of the muri who just arrived on an island to trace the source of corruption Whilst cleaning your way deeper into the wild nature your trusty water gun gets stolen by a mischievous heron who then flees into the corrupted Wildwoods ahead of you Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without acknowledgment of Gematsu is prohibited Use of this site is governed by all applicable laws Website by 44 Bytes 2025Muri: Wildwoods - Official Trailer | WLG Showcase 2025Explore the mysterious creature-filled Wildwoods as a Muri Restore the world's beauty in this cozy adventure and sign-ups for a closed playtest are now open Suggestions or feedback? Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced the recipients of its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards for 2023 MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) professors George Barbasthasis and John Hart MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Assistant Professor Pulkit Agrawal and MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Rob Macfarlane are principal investigators on projects selected for MURI Awards a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences director of strategic industry engagement in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and a senior research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) — will be participating in these projects In addition, three MURI projects led by faculty at other institutions will be collaborating with other MIT researchers. The 2023 MURI awards total $220 million and will fund 31 research projects at an extensive list of institutions The MURI program is designed to support research in areas of critical importance to national defense and brings together teams of researchers from multiple universities to collaborate on projects that are expected to lead to significant advances in science and technology with only a small fraction of proposals receiving funding each year and it has a strong track record of supporting research that has led to breakthroughs in fields ranging from materials science to information technology Fundamental limits of nanoscale X-ray microscopy in radiation-sensitive materials One of the funded projects is titled “Searching for what’s new: the systematic development of dynamic X‐ray microscopy.” This will be led by Professor George Barbastathis of MechE alongside colleagues from Northwestern University and Stony Brook University and falls within the Fundamental Limits of Nanoscale X-ray Microscopy in Radiation Sensitive Materials MURI topic Barbastathis and his team explain that X-ray microscopes offer unique capabilities but can also be harmful to the small objects they’re taking images of This team has developed a new approach that puts forward a paradigm shift for higher resolution and the study of dynamics allowing one to start with knowledge they already have of a specific object This should allow them to use less harmful X-ray exposures The team plans to test this approach to study three model systems: small machines Air Force Office of Scientific Research and will help the DoD by providing new insights into the function of batteries used in troop-carried electronics and elsewhere; in the response of micro electronic mechanical systems which are used in the field as sensors; and in the biological response of cells to external stresses and environmental changes Spatially programmed material properties via designed mesostructures John Hart and Rob Macfarlane are co-leading a MURI project entitled “Directed assembly of mesoscale architectures in additive manufacturing,” sponsored by the U.S The project is in collaboration with professors A.J Boydston of the University of Wisconsin; Randall Erb and Safa Jamali of Northeastern University; and Arthi Jayaraman of the University of Delaware While additive manufacturing can create complex geometries from a wide variety of materials it is typically not possible to control the architecture of the material at a length scale smaller than the resolution of the additive process The MURI team will combine additive manufacturing with “bottom-up” directed assembly using tailored nanoparticle building blocks and polymers and by building new instruments to study the process and validate computational predictions The end goal of the project is to realize materials and structures with emergent thermal electromagnetic and optical properties that could be used in This website is managed by the MIT News Office, part of the Institute Office of Communications Massachusetts Institute of Technology77 Massachusetts Avenue Examples of origami- and kirigami-inspired multifunctional structures include hybrid soft pop-up actuators (top left), 3D-printed soft robotic systems (top right), transformable materials (bottom left) and inflatable shelters (bottom right) The highly competitive MURI program supports teams of investigators pursuing basic research spanning multiple scientific disciplines with the goal of facilitating the growth of newly emerging technologies to address the DoD’s unique problem sets.  the Harry Lewis and Marlyn McGrath Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania and David Zeb Rocklin of the Georgia Institute of Technology.  The researchers will be exploring a new class of origami- and kirigami-inspired flexible lightweight structures capable of transitioning between many stable shapes to perform different tasks or adapt to changing environmental conditions These structures could be used in a range of applications from multifunctional robots and collapsible antennae to rapidly assembled bridges and temporary structures and force protection elements like origami inspired bulletproof shields giving us a set of skills that is essential for the successful execution of this ambitious research program,” said Bertoldi.  The researchers aim to combine those skill sets to develop a set of mathematical models to characterize and design the complex mechanical behavior of multi-stable origami and kirigami structures; new scale-spanning manufacturing processes that efficiently integrate actuation and sensing; and experimental test beds to serve as a platform for evaluation and optimization of design concepts "Our essential mission is to program as many stable shapes and deformation modes into these sheets as possible by synthesizing geometry Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-PI of the project whose group has pioneered analytic frameworks for deformations of flexible structures "Our team is going to apply a tight collaborative cycle between theory and experiment to realize practical devices that embody universal mathematical laws we have a tremendous opportunity to create new structures that efficiently generate flexibility and strength." “By supporting teams whose members have diverse sets of expertise the MURI program acknowledges that the complexities of modern science and engineering challenges often intersect more than one discipline and require creative and diverse approaches to tackle these problems,” said Bindu Nair Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering “This cross-fertilization of ideas can accelerate research progress to enable more rapid R&D breakthroughs and hasten the transition of basic research findings to practical application.” William and Ami Kuan Danoff Professor of Applied Mechanics Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics Harry Lewis and Marlyn McGrath Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences Will compete for share of $517,000 in prize money Researchers unravel entanglement between stiff Transducer could enable superconducting quantum networks A multi-institutional research project led by Todd Braver a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St received a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) award from the U.S Department of Defense to study attention control and strategies to improve it The project — “A computational cognitive neuroscience framework for attentional control traits and states (CCN-FACTS)” — is expected to span five years with a total budget of about $8.8 million of which WashU will receive up to $2.5 million In addition to Braver, the U.S. research team includes as core members Julie Bugg and Wouter Kool from WashU’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; David Badre and Michael Frank from Brown University; Mark Steyvers and Jeffrey Rouder from the University of California Irvine; and Susanne Jaeggi and Aaron Seitz from Northeastern University. The project also features a close collaborative partnership with a parallel team of researchers from Australia led by Andrew Heathcote at Newcastle University the research team will develop neurocomputational models of both individual differences and state-related fluctuations in attention control due to factors such as motivation They will test the models using multi-modal neuroimaging methods including functional MRI and EEG. They will also develop novel tasks to investigate attention control in both laboratory and real-world complex environments.  “A major goal of the project will be to harness the modeling and task development efforts to implement and evaluate new training strategies for enhancement of attention control,” Braver said “Such strategies will be useful in enabling individuals to maintain high levels of focus and concentration even in high-pressure situations such as those faced by military personnel.” The MURI program supports research in areas of critical importance to national defense and brings together researchers from multiple universities to collaborate on projects that are expected to bring significant advances in science and technology 31 projects received $220 million in awards this year Psychology Science & Technology Read more stories from Arts & Sciences Visit Arts & Sciences Temperature-controlled switch activates sperm, is key to fertility WashU partners with leading St. Louis recreation organizations Brain decoder controls spinal cord stimulation Federal court order a victory for rule of law Tips for Class of 2025 jobseekers How tariff uncertainty will impact economy, businesses Want to Start a Business? Maybe Begin by Being a Gig Worker. Trump’s Budget Cuts Funding for Chronic Disease Prevention Religion in Schools Get In Touch Kent StuderSenior Director of Corporate Relations(217) 300-4671kstuder@illinois.edu Make a Gift The Department of Defense has announced 31 grants totaling $220 million in support of basic research projects as part of its fiscal year 2023 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program—and UIUC stood out on the list of winners UIUC tied MIT for the largest number of successful MURI proposals Four of UIUC’s six MURIs are in the Grainger College of Engineering: All four of the awards are being sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research will study how various classes of “mechanical metamaterials”—certain engineered materials that have properties not found in naturally occurring materials—interact with the dynamics of turbulent flows The purpose is to determine the effects these materials would have on turbulent flows around aircraft with the goal of improving vehicles’ energy requirements and flight envelopes “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to establish this new field,” Matlack said “It’s completely unknown how to get desirable behaviors in mechanical metamaterials to ‘talk’ to the fluid to meaningfully and beneficially interact with turbulent flows This is a fundamental aspect we’ll deeply probe in this program.”  Matlack’s MURI project will leverage the results of an earlier collaboration funded through the Grainger College of Engineering’s Strategic Research Initiative That project created a computational and experimental framework with which to study the use of phononic crystals for flow control that framework will be extended to examine a broader class of materials and flow problems will develop mathematical formalisms for examining a class of dynamical systems known as hybrid systems The new formalisms will account for both continuous evolution The result will be richer analysis of the hybrid dynamics found in The current hybrid systems formalisms have evolved over decades as an accretion of upgrades and patches that do not adequately support analysis of target systems According to HyDDRA co-principal investigator Sayan Mitra “The concepts and tools from this project will become the basis for addressing important questions about safety Diao and Hoffmann will investigate a mystery: the unknown reason why certain materials that have structural “chirality”—a kind of asymmetry that can be thought of as “handedness”—acquire a net magnetic moment when an electrical current is passed through them.  Since today almost all digital data are stored in magnetic materials, important benefits may result from gaining a better understanding of the effect. However, Diao notes that the phenomenon is ubiquitous in biological systems as well. “Probing the mechanism of this phenomenon will not only lead to new information technologies,” she said “but could also help uncover the rules of life!” Johnson and Lee’s project will explore dislocations—defects that occur in crystalline materials—as possible conductors in otherwise electrically insulating material.  we are focusing on quantum conduction in topological insulators which is to say that we are looking for defects that provide extremely efficient conduction in otherwise extremely insulating materials,” explained Johnson “This is very exciting for possible next-generation quantum electronic and spintronic devices which could help enable quantum computing.” Phone: 217-333-2280 Email: engineering@illinois.edu Chicago Office200 South Wacker Drive Josh Caldwell, director of the Interdisciplinary Material Sciences program and professor of mechanical engineering, has been awarded a grant from the Office of Naval Research’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative which provides up to $1.5 million in funding annually will be shared among Vanderbilt University the University of Minnesota and Stanford University to study twist optics to better predict emergent properties created by stacking and misorienting various two-dimensional materials “Once again Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering is helping push the boundaries in materials science to develop innovations that will shape our future,” said Philippe M Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of Engineering “I applaud Professor Josh Caldwell and his colleagues for their pathbreaking work in this field and am eager to see how it leads to new technological advances.” when two crystal structures—which can be nanoscale or less in thickness—are stacked the interactions between the crystals can lead to properties not seen in the individual crystals on their own Recent discoveries show that changing the angle of how the layers are oriented with respect to each other can lead to emergent properties “People often use Legos as an example when they explain two-dimensional materials and twist optics but that may not be a good example since Legos only allow two fixed orientations,” Caldwell said “A better analogy would be a kaleidoscope with two color disks where someone can rotate the disks with respect to each other with no restriction on the angles between the two How the disks interact depends on their alignment.” This project will work to develop the guiding principles underlying such layer-to-layer interactions to predict the emergent properties that occur when different combinations of materials are stacked and misoriented The difficulty in that task is that there are near-infinite possibilities with regard to which materials are stacked and the misorientation angles “How the disks interact depends on their alignment If I take material A and misorient it with respect to a layer of material B the new emergent properties aren’t just the sum of the parts,” Caldwell explained and crystal symmetry to create predictive algorithms that will hopefully ease the task The team also will probe the local optical and electro-optic properties that emerge This work could eventually lead to new laser sources controllable nano-scale optical components for microchips and smaller components for electronic devices All are important to military and commercial product development Caldwell will serve as the study’s principal investigator with five investigators from three other universities: MURI awards are among the most prestigious grants offered by the Department of Defense only 28 research teams pursuing basic research received awards from the program The MURI program’s multidisciplinary approach serves to stimulate innovation accelerate research progress and expedite transition of results into military and commercial applications The grant proposal was supported by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation which provided travel funds for project investigators to meet at Stanford University to discuss the project and proposal The Department of Defense MURI Award will allow Lidar’s multi-institutional team to investigate techniques that may unlock the full potential of quantum computing Daniel Lidar’s MURI Award team will investigate methods to overcome errors in quantum computing the holder of the Viterbi Professorship of Engineering and Professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named as the recipient of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Award These highly competitive and sought-after grants support basic research projects in areas of strategic importance to the Department of Defense Lidar’s team will receive a maximum of $6.25 million over five years This is the second MURI Award for Professor Daniel Lidar Lidar, who is the Director of the USC Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology will be collaborating with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Iowa State University — along with Dr a quantum control expert at the company SC Solutions and a separately funded team based in Australia led by Professor Kavan Modi — to investigate quantum error correction and quantum control These techniques hold the promise of facilitating the development of quantum computers that can be exponentially faster than the best state-of-the-art classical computers for certain problems “Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems that are currently impossible for classical computers like simulating complex chemical reactions or breaking modern cryptographic codes,” said Lidar one major challenge in building a practical quantum computer is dealing with errors.” By researching improvements in quantum error correction and quantum control Lidar and his team aim to overcome the challenges posed by errors and the delicate nature of quantum systems Errors in quantum computing can arise from various sources radiation or magnetic fields) or imperfections in the hardware These errors can cause qubits — which are the fundamental units of information in quantum computing — to lose their fragile quantum state or introduce unwanted changes That’s where quantum error correction comes in One widely used method is the error-correcting code approach which involves encoding the information of a single qubit across multiple “physical” qubits These extra qubits essentially provide redundancy so that if an error occurs it can be detected and corrected without losing the original information “Imagine a game of ‘telephone,’ where a message is passed down a line of people,” says Lidar “If each person only whispers to the next one But if everyone repeats the message to multiple neighbors who share the messages they received it becomes easier to identify and correct any mistakes Quantum error correction works in a similar way but with qubits and quantum correlations called entanglement instead of correlated people.” Lidar’s team will be looking at how quantum error correction intersects with quantum control which involves manipulating quantum systems to perform specific tasks or computations Quantum control focuses on the precise control of qubits to ensure that the desired quantum operations are executed with high accuracy “The need for quantum control arises because it’s crucial to accurately perform the quantum operations while minimizing errors and maintaining the qubits’ coherence which is the ability to maintain their quantum state,” said Lidar Achieving precise quantum control is challenging because quantum systems are so prone to errors Lidar and his team will be exploring how to improve the effectiveness of quantum control approaches including open-loop and closed-loop control This is the second MURI Award team that Lidar will be leading The current project will build on results from the quantum computing research he spearheaded with a MURI Award in 2011 who has also been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for his groundbreaking work in quantum computing notes that his research group at USC Viterbi has a longstanding collaboration with the researchers at both MIT and Iowa State University dating back to the previous MURI Award and even earlier in the case of MIT “It’s incredibly exciting to have our team selected for this award,” said Lidar “We’ve assembled some of the top people globally working at the intersection of quantum error correction and quantum control and worked long and hard to put together a competitive proposal We’re all very gratified that our ideas were selected for funding and we’re eager to start work on them as a team.” Office of Academic Innovation & Engagement Join the Dean's Circle Give To Other College of Science Priorities Photo illustration created using Adobe Firefly Research Communications Specialist College of Science assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa Assistant Professor Thomas Folland has been awarded a grant from the Office of Naval Research’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) is led by Josh Caldwell at Vanderbilt University and will be shared with the University of Minnesota and Stanford University The work proposes to study twist optics to better predict emergent properties created by stacking and misorienting various two-dimensional materials which can be nanoscale or less in thickness are stacked the interactions between the crystals can lead to properties not seen in the individual crystals on their own The team will also probe the local optical and electro-optic properties that emerge. This work could eventually lead to new laser sources Folland will contribute his expertise in 2D material photonics and optoelectronics in a team of five investigators led by Prof the study’s principal investigator and director of the Interdisciplinary Material Sciences program at Vanderbilt: MURI awards are among the most prestigious grants offered by the Department of Defense accelerate research progress and expedite the transition of results into military and commercial applications 319-335-1686319-335-1753physics-astronomy@uiowa.edu Admin Login