Materials science and engineering sits at the crossroads of innovation. Whether advancing cleaner energy, enabling new medical therapies, or powering next-generation computing, progress depends on the understanding and design of materials. Our Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) doctoral program was built to bring together faculty and students from across disciplines to meet these challenges for the benefit of society.
This fall we celebrate the fifth year of the MSE program. Since its launch, 83 students have enrolled in the program, and 18 have earned their Ph.D., joining our growing alumni network that extends the program’s impact across academia, industry, and national laboratories. Today, our students represent a vibrant, interdisciplinary community drawn from seven academic departments and supported by more than 70 affiliated faculty.
The academic foundation of the program continues to grow. We now have 52 approved MSE courses, covering topics from biofabrication to advanced electron microscopy. This academic year, Professors Svetlana Neretina and Nirmal Ghimire are introducing two new courses, “Techniques in materials analysis: Understanding structure and properties,” and “Materials synthesis and processing,” that now serve as required, introductory classes for the program. These new requirements serve two purposes. First, they give every student a common, rigorous introduction to the fundamentals of materials synthesis, processing and characterization, knowledge that will be beneficial in their graduate research and future careers. Second, they provide a common journey that helps build community within the MSE program.
We are committed to highlighting the program’s growing scholarly contributions. Below, student publications and conference presentations showcase the intellectual vitality of our community. With every dissertation defended, every new course launched, and every discovery made, our program affirms the vision of its founding leadership and the dedication of our faculty, staff, and students.
On this fifth anniversary, I want to especially acknowledge the program’s first director, Professor Emeritus Alan Seabaugh, who, along with Professor Masaru Kuno, brought foresight and leadership that were instrumental in bringing the MSE program to life. Following a distinguished research career and many years of service to Notre Dame, Alan retired in 2024, leaving behind a program grounded not only in impactful research but also in a spirit of collaboration across disciplines to address society’s greatest challenges.
Thank you for being part of this journey. We look forward to continuing our shared work in building the newest generation of materials scholars at Notre Dame.
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| Anthony Hoffman
John J. Huether Collegiate Professor, Electrical Engineering
MSE Steering Committee Chair
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Notre Dame’s Materials Science and Engineering PhD program was launched five years ago and offers interdisciplinary degrees in conjunction with seven different departments and programs. Some other highlights of the program’s first five years include:
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| | current MSE students, including 26 new students joining the program in 2025
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| | MSE-approved courses, including 2 new core courses
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new officers for MRS student chapter
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| | | | student projects supported by one-year fellowships
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Hezekiah Williams is a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He is advised by Professor Ryan Roeder, and his interdisciplinary mentor is Professor Matt Webber. For the 2024-2025 academic year, Hezekiah served as Treasurer of Notre Dame’s Student Chapter of the Materials Research Society. Here, he explains his research on the addition of modified gold nanoparticles to hydrogels and provides insight into the MSE program and his career goals.
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In April, the Materials Science and Engineering program announced an update in required courses.
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- Students previously were required to take any three courses from the MSE-approved list of courses, with two of the three courses from outside the home department.
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Beginning with the Fall 2025 semester, students are required to take two specific courses from this approved list, and select a third course from any of the available, approved courses. These two new core courses provide a common, rigorous introduction to crucial aspects of materials synthesis, processing, and characterization. Additionally, these courses will aid in building community among the MSE students.
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The first core course to be offered, “Techniques in materials analysis: Understanding structure and properties,” is being instructed this fall by Svetlana Neretina, Professor, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and chair of the MSE Academic Committee.
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| | Update on ND student chapter of Materials Research Society
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In 2024, Notre Dame re-established the student chapter of the Materials Research Society. The chapter officers elected at the time – MSE program students Faraj Al-badani, Connor Schmidt, Hezekiah Williams, and Alexander Padilla – organized events and worked diligently to advance the chapter to an officially recognized organization of the Student Activities Office on campus.
Most recently, the Notre Dame student chapter held elections, and a new slate of officers for the upcoming academic year has been announced, including four students from the MSE program.
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| | Congratulations! Graduates, Outstanding Student Publication, and Fellowships
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At the end of the academic year celebration in May, the program recognized several students who completed their interdisciplinary MSE degree, as well as the 2024 Outstanding MSE Publication recipient. Additionally, five students were supported by MSE Fellowships.
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Alan Seabaugh (Electrical Engineering), who served as chair of the MSE Executive Committee since its inception, retired in December 2024. Masaru Kuno (Chemistry and Biochemistry) is serving as interim chair of the Executive Committee. In alignment with the interdisciplinary nature of the program, each of the program’s three leadership committees has representation from the participating departments and programs.
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At the 2025 MRS Spring Meeting in Seattle, Bikram Ghosh (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received the Best Poster Award in Symposium EL03: Towards Scalable Production of 2D Materials and Their Heterostructure. His poster was entitled, "Exciton and hot charge carrier dynamics in MoS2/(PEA)2PbI4 2D heterostructure." Bikram was also among those nominated for the Spring Meeting's Best Poster Award.
Bikram also received an Honorable Mention in the Interdisciplinary Collaboration category of Notre Dame's Graduate School Government awards. This recognition “celebrates a graduate student who exemplifies the power of integrating knowledge across disciplines to advance research and discovery.” Bikram was cited for “leading a collaborative project resulting in a publication on ultrafast spectroscopy of hybrid 2D materials.”
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Nileema Sharma (left) and Resham Regmi (right) both received Distinguished Research Awards from the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Nileema was cited for atomic-scale visualization of putative spin-triplet superconductivity, Josephson coupling frustration, and the development of new scanning probe microscopy methods. Resham was recognized for the growth of high-quality single crystals of altermagnetic materials and for contributing to major collaborations, positioning Notre Dame at the forefront of this emerging field.
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In April, two MSE students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry were recognized with 2025 Department Teaching Awards:
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Grayson Huldin (left): Emil T. Hofman Award for Teaching in the First Year Program
- Joshua Morales Campos (right): Kaneb Outstanding Teaching Assistant
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President: Nileema Sharma, Physics and Astronomy
- Treasurer: Janak Bhandari, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Secretary: Resham Regmi, Physics and Astronomy
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The new student group is a cultural and community-based student-led organization that aims to foster a welcoming environment for Nepalese students and promote cultural exchange within the Notre Dame community.
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Select Publications and Conference Presentations
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Featured below is a sampling of the work published and presented by students in the MSE program during the 2024-2025 academic year.
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Connor Schmit, “Modulation between static and dynamic crosslinking mechanisms in supramolecular hydrogels,” poster, Self Assembly and Supramolecular Chemistry Gordon Research Conference, Les Diablerets, Switzerland; May 2025.
- Grayson F. Huldin, Junming Huang, Kaiyu X. Fu, “Nanoconfined constructs for electrochemical aptamer-based in vivo biosensing,” Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 2025, 51, 101695.
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Wei-Kuo Li and Hsing-Ta Chen. “Disorder-induced spectral splitting versus Rabi splitting under strong light-matter coupling.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 16 (2025): 6728-6733.
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Resham B. Regmi, Hari Bhandari, Bishal Thapa, Yiqing Hao, Nileema Sharma, James McKenzie, Xinglong Chen, Abhijeet Nayak, Mohamed El Gazzah, Bence G. Márkus, László Forró, Xiaolong Liu, Huibo Cao, J. F. Mitchell, Igor I. Mazin, and Nirmal J. Ghimire, “Altermagnetism in the layered intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide CoNb4Se8,” Nat. Comm. 16, 4399. (2025)
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James McKenzie, Nileema Sharma, and Xiaolong Liu, “Fabrication of pristine 2D heterostructures for scanning probe microscopy.” APL Mater. 12, 070602. (2024)
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Runze Tang, Robert A. Hughes, Walker J. Tuff, Ana Corcoran, Svetlana Neretina, “Rapid formation of gold core-satellite nanostructures using Turkevich-synthesized satellites and dithiol linkers: the do’s and don’ts for successful assembly,” Nanoscale Adv. 2024 May 31;6(14):3632-3643.
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Yucheng Yang, Botond Sánta, Ashok Ponnuchamy, Edward C. Kinzel, Anthony J. Hoffman, and Matthew R. Rosenberger, “Engineering flexible superblack materials,” Nature Communications volume 16, Article number: 4650 (2025)
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Faculty and Research Highlights
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| Machine learning discovers ‘hidden-gem’ materials for heat-free gas separation
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| | Notre Dame Professor Jankó and collaborators receive Army grant for Quantum Computing Research
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Notre Dame to develop next-generation refrigerant technology as part of a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center
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| | Engineers and cancer researchers develop tunable biomaterials to treat lymphedema
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Physics researchers confirm Berry curvature in topological materials
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| | Stretchable bioelectronics promise more accurate health monitoring devices
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Newly synthesized magnet by Notre Dame physicist could pave a way to faster and energy efficient spin based electronic devices
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| | Finding fusion: an engineer and neurosurgeon unite to improve spinal surgery
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