Welcome to the Materials & Engineering Physics Program

The Materials & Engineering Physics Program at the Ames Laboratory is located on the campus of Iowa State University (ISU) and is primarily funded by the Materials Sciences and Engineering Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Core research areas for which our program receives BES funding are: (1) Structure and Composition of Materials; (2) Mechanical Behavior and Radiation Effects; (3) Physical Behavior of Materials; and (4) Synthesis and Processing Science. The Program also receives funding for more applied research activities from other offices within the DOE, industry, and other federal agencies.

An important and unique feature of the Ames Laboratory is its Materials Preparation Center (MPC), which is managed by the Materials and Engineering Physics Program. The MPC is a specialized research center that is primarily dedicated to the preparation, purification, and characterization of metallic materials that are of tightly controlled chemistries and that are not available from commercial suppliers. (http://www.mpc.ameslab.gov)

Basic Research Efforts in the Materials and Engineering Physics Program

The BES-sponsored research efforts seek to further fundamental understanding of materials phenomena at reduced dimensionality and increasing levels of compositional, structural, and functional complexities.

The BES-supported research within the MEP Program has been reorganized over the past year to provide even stronger support of the mission of the Division of Materials Science and Engineering within the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. This restructuring effort has been directed toward strengthening the focus of specific subtasks, creating new research thrusts to address the currently identified basic research needs within BES, and organizing an outstanding set of core research programs that are prepared to respond to future BES priorities as identified, for example, through BES sponsored Workshops. The MEP Program within the Ames Laboratory seeks to focus on the following complementary multi-investigator efforts:

• Structure and Dynamics in Condensed Systems
• Mechanical Behavior and Defects in Solids
• Extraordinary Responsive Magnetic Rare Earth Materials
• Multiferroic Materials
• Rational Growth, Control and Modification of Novel Materials
• Complex Hydrides - A New Frontier for Future Energy Applications

The MEP Program currently consists of approximately 100 scientists, postdoctoral research associates, and students. Of this number, there are 23 senior scientists and 18 assistant scientists. Postdoctoral research associates and graduate and undergraduate students provide the balance, making major contributions to the research within the Program. Indeed, the intimate connection between Ames Laboratory and ISU introduces a strong educational component within all of the scientific programs of the Laboratory. This is certainly true with the MEP Program as a number of the Program’s senior scientists hold faculty appointments with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at ISU. The MEP Program is strongly committed to educating the next generation of scientists and engineers.

There are also a number of research efforts within the Program that are at the cutting edge of research, but that are outside the scope of the main research areas. These efforts are being conducted with the expectation that some will eventuate into larger multi-researcher projects.

Ultimately, the materials research in the Materials & Engineering Physics Program seeks to establish new tools and paradigms that enable the development of new materials and structures with desired properties.