Cluster focus

This cluster creates an interdisciplinary bridge between a core of existing UW-Madison faculty who characterize how organic and inorganic materials function and new faculty who can use that expertise to synthesize and test complex molecules needed for advanced materials. Faculty research centers on: 1) development of new synthetic methodologies that facilitate rapid and scalable synthesis of new materials and attendant physical characterization of their novel properties; 2) the synthesis and formulation of advanced organic photoresist materials for next-generation, nano-electronics applications; and 3) developing synthetic structures to be used for controlled drug and gene delivery in novel therapeutic strategies. This cluster allows the campus to create designer, tailor-made organic and polymeric molecules to complement existing, world-class programs involved in the characterization, manipulation and utilization of advanced organic materials. The group uses the principles of chemistry, engineering and biology to design materials-based approaches to important problems in the biomedical, pharmaceutical and health-related fields. Moreover, undergraduate and graduate curricula are improved considerably by the introduction of new course and new material in the general areas of synthesis and manipulation of advanced, functional organic materials.

Cluster accomplishments

  • New courses include: “Polymeric Materials” in Materials Science and Engineering and "Materials Chemistry of Polymers" in Chemistry.
  • The cluster uses new concepts in chemical synthesis and polymer science to design new materials. Traditionally, biomaterials research has relied heavily on materials developed for non-biomedical applications. More recently, the design of materials that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of individual applications has helped to fuel the enormous growth in the health-care industry. As one example, the sales of controlled-release pharmaceutical formulations alone (which have depended heavily on the development of new functional, biocompatible materials) now exceed $20 billion a year.
  • Cluster faculty were among the multiple investigators on the recently renewed Materials Research Science Engineering Center grant to develop new materials. Cluster faculty are also investigators with our Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center and other collaborative efforts.
  • This cluster has also helped change the way that faculty hires are made in the departments of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemical and Biological Engineering. These departments now regularly consider bringing in faculty with interdisciplinary skills and new areas of expertise to complement current research and teaching emphasis.
  • Cluster faculty have received a National Science Foundation Career award, an MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Young Innovators Award (2003) and a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award (2005).

Cluster structure

There is no formal cluster structure. However, faculty meet regularly with the cluster coordinator who monitors teaching and research progress and checks that departmental mentoring activities are working well. The cluster faculty are regularly sought out on campus to collaborate on research. The research is conducted in a highly interdisciplinary environment that provides opportunities for faculty, staff and students with backgrounds and/or interests in chemistry, engineering, biology, materials science, medicine and the pharmaceutical sciences.

Cluster coordinator, faculty and lead dean

Cluster Coordinator

Cluster Faculty

  • Padma Gopalan, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
  • David Lynn, Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
  • Mahesh Mahanthappa, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Lead Dean