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About
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Established in 2002, the Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology (IAM) is a multidisciplinary research institute, coordinating efforts across the internationally recognized strengths of UNC-Chapel Hill in polymer science, nanomaterials, and nanobiosciences - areas critical to our society and future economy.
Our goal is to foster an interdisciplinary research community where new knowledge and exciting new disciplines emerge through crossing the boundaries between traditional sciences. Current focus areas in IAM are materials science, nanotechnology and computational approaches to interdisciplinary sciences. We are applying these skills in many areas, but most frequently to the life and medical sciences interface; to critical problems in clean, renewable energy production and storage; to advanced analytical methods such as state of the art surface measurements, nanofluidics, and femtosecond spectroscopy; and to answering through advanced computational means some of the unresolved theoretical problems of our times. We are an active partner with the UNC Institute for the Environment in understanding environmental issues such as global warming and environmental impacts on human health, and in developing the science, public policy, and social models needed to achieve the dramatic changes that lie ahead for our country and world. We are a partner with the Kenan-Flagler School of Business in developing the new ideas, in both technology and other areas, which are created at UNC into business models, entrepreneurial companies, and successful products available to customers to meet their needs. All of these activities are framed and informed by the overriding goal of educating and training young people to become well-rounded, free-standing, broadly educated scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and contributing citizens.
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The Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology (IAM) is a relatively new research endeavor at UNC. Its goals are to promote interdisciplinary research in the areas of physical and health related materials science.
We draw faculty and students from four core departments (Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy) and the Curriculum in Applied Sciences and Engineering (CASE). We build bridges between these departments and other units on campus including the School of Medicine, School of Pharmacology, the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). We are a partner with the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE) in developing nanofluidic and other devices for rapid nanobiomedical diagnostics, and smart nanoparticles for cancer detection, imaging, and therapy. IAM is a partner with the Institute for the Environment in the Energy and Environment initiative. In 2006 we opened our shared instrumentation facility – Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL). Since then a steady stream of major surface analysis equipment has been added, aided by EPA and Army Research Office grants. In early 2009 CHANL opened its new 2200 sq. ft. cleanroom, which contains all of the equipment necessary for nanofabrication work at UNC. CHANL is serving researchers not only at UNC, but across the Research Triangle area, and provides a state of the art collection of instrumentation and training not possible in individual principal investigator (PI) laboratories.
Materials science at UNC was recognized in the last two Chronicle of Higher Education rankings as second or third in material science and engineering programs across the country in faculty scholarly productivity (despite not having a formal engineering program). In addition, the chemistry department at UNC has a longstanding position of leadership in research and training in the chemical sciences. The chemistry faculty includes 6 members of the National Academy of Sciences, one member of the National Academy of Engineering, a past President of the American Chemical Society, a Priestley Medal recipient, and numerous winners of other national awards in Chemistry. The chemistry graduate program is consistently ranked in the top 15, with certain areas such as analytical and polymer chemistry ranked at or near number one. The soft condensed matter group, housed in Physics, Chemistry and Applied Mathematics, has achieved a variety of distinctions, including major interdisciplinary funding from NASA, NSF, DOE and most recently NIH. The Computer Science program is routinely ranked at the top in visualization and graphics, and their faculty work closely with medical scientists in imaging and real-time visualization of experimental data. The Applied Mathematics program, while only 12 years old, has major funding for interdisciplinary research collaborations and training. This group provides computational modeling and simulation tools across the physical and biomedical sciences, with ongoing funded research projects.
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- Structural materials and polymer composites (Ashby, Lin)
- Polymeric materials theory and modeling (Forest, Mitran, Mucha, Rubinstein)
- Energy - home of the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC)
- Photovoltaics and solar fuels (Ashby, DeSimone, Lin, Lopez, McNeil, Meyer, Samulski, You)
- Nanofluidic devices (Ramsey)
- Nano-medicine - PRINT nanoparticles for drug delivery (DeSimone); carbon nanotube X-ray devices (Zhou); nanoscale surfaces for capturing cells (Juliano, Allbritton); magnetic nanoparticles (Lin)- Fuel cells - DeSimone
- Supercapacitors and electrets (Murray, DeSimone)
- Fuel Cells (DeSimone)
- Batteries
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• Mike Ramsey (2004): expertise in "Lab-on-a-Chip" micro & nanofluidics.
• Peter Mucha (2005): expertise in complex fluids and complex systems.
• Tom Meyer (2005): expertise in photochemistry and energy technology.
• Rene Lopez (2006): expertise in nanofabrication and non-linear optical properties of nanostructures.
• Wei You (2006): expertise in organic electronic materials synthesis.
• Nancy Allbritton (2007): expertise in materials science applied to biotechnology.
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In the 2001-2002 timeframe, a small group of UNC faculty members came together and began discussing the need at Carolina for more effective means to pursue multidisciplinary research, across the boundaries of traditional sciences to participate in the exciting new disciplines emerging in such areas as nanoscience and biomedical engineering. They saw the time as ripe for a new type of nanoscience and materials institute at UNC that would pool our collective resources, manage shared facilities, provide concrete infrastructure for broader collaborations, and extend our ability to do cutting-edge research. Those initial discussions obviously found wide agreement within the UNC community, as they quickly led to the official creation of the IAM. In September 2002, UNC Chancellor James Moeser announced UNC's support for the IAM saying, "Some will argue that we cannot afford new initiatives in the current environment. I would respond that, while we must be very judicious in taking on new projects, we cannot afford not to build on our strengths to be the very best that we can be." Founded in 2002 with a university commitment of $10M, IAM has hired 7 new faculty members, participated in a joint investment with NC State University in the Triangle National Lithography Center, and constructed a world-class shared analytical research facility and nanofabrication lab, CHANL, housed in the new state-of-the-art $205 million, 650,000 sq. ft Science Complex at UNC Chapel Hill.
IAM is the home of the newly launched Solar Energy Research Center (SERC), which was awarded a five year $17.5M Energy Research Frontiers Center grant by the Department of Energy. Faculty and Students of the IAM are currently drawn from the newly reorganized Curriculum in Applied Sciences and Engineering (CASE) and the Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy. Affiliated Departments include Environmental Sciences and Engineering, the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacology, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. IAM is a partner with the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE). IAM is also a partner with the Institute for the Environment in the Energy and Environment initiative. |
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For 2007 and 2008, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has ranked 2nd or 3rd in the nation for its materials science and engineering program.
- Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index as reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
1. University of California at Santa Barbara 1.95
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1.80
3. University of Massachusetts at Amherst 1.65
4. Princeton University 1.35
5. University of Texas at Austin 1.35
6. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 1.23
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1.19
8. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1.17
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