California State University, Long Beach-Ohio State University's Center for Emergent Materials
The partnership between California State University, Long Beach and the NSF MRSEC: Center for Emergent Materials at Ohio State University will focus on frontier research in magnetic, thin film and bio-materials. CSULB is a Hispanic-serving institution and hosts leading Masters-level programs in STEM fields such as Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry and Mathematics. The program will leverage existing connections via respective American Physical Society Bridge Programs to improve retention and PhD degree attainment of students from underrepresented groups through sustained research engagement, mentoring, and professional development opportunities.
The PREM partnership offers a uniquely broad range of pathways to improve the degree attainment of URM students, including Masters and Bridge programs, which can serve as stepping stones for students lacking the preparation or support to directly jump into PhD studies. The partnership will directly impact CSULB and OSU students and postdocs through collaborative research and professional development activities. Students at both sites will benefit from the informal faculty and peer mentoring that research provides, identified as a key factor in improving STEM participation. Reciprocal exchange programs will provide additional professional development and activities for PREM faculty, students, and postdocs.
The research of the PREM is focused on cooperative phenomena in solid state, organic/inorganic and biomaterials, with strong interdisciplinary cross-over between materials science, chemistry, mathematics, physics and aspects of biophysics in living systems. Three Partnership Research Groups (PRGs) will leverage existing research programs at CSULB and OSU, ensuring strong pathways for sustained research collaborations. Research on topological aspects of magnetism, tuning magnetic properties in thin film magnetic heterostructures, and topology in biomaterials will directly involve and support student exchange and opportunities, enhance research collaboration among partners, and make the PREM greater than the sum of its parts.
