Home of UT
Materials Science and
Engineering
Core Faculty
TMI's core faculty lead cutting-edge research by running their grants through the institute, fostering collaboration and resource sharing.
Learn More
Graduate Program
Our Materials Science and Engineering program is one of the best in the nation, and our graduates go on to be leaders in their fields.
Learn More
Research
TMI supports interdisciplinary research at UT Austin, with over 100 faculty focusing on clean energy, nanotechnology, and advanced materials using our state-of-the-art facilities.
Learn More
Home
TMI Affiliate Publishes on Cost-Effective Way to Capture Carbon Dioxide
Dr. Vaibhav Bahadur, an affiliate member of the Texas Materials Institute, has recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal on a practical and cost-effective way to sequester CO₂ on the seabed. Bahadur, along with his co-authors Mark Hamalian and Karey Maynor, have studied a new method for carbon storage that uses tiny bubbles of CO₂ to form hydrates instead of simply injecting the carbon into underground reservoirs, as is currently done.
MS&E Students Lead Paper on Accurately Predicting How Charged Defects Scatter Electrons
Defects are unavoidable in real materials and can strongly influence properties such as electrical conductivity and electron dynamics. Until now, researchers had to rely on rough approximations to describe the scattering of charged defects, which limits the understanding and predictions of materials’ properties. Yuanyue Liu’s group at TMI of UT Austin recently developed a new way to accurately predict how charged defects in crystals scatter electrons.
MSE Students are Finalists in Collegiate Inventors Competition
Weixin Guan and Yaxuan Zhao, Materials Science & Engineering graduate students with the Texas Materials Institute, have been named one of the five finalist teams in the 2025 Collegiate Inventor Competition. Both students of Dr. Guihua Yu, the team invented AirGel, a cost-effective, water-harvesting device made from hydrogels that pulls water vapor from the air like a sponge.
"Architected Materials" has Dr. Yulan Zhang & Team as Finalists in Gulf Futures Challenge
Dr. Yunlan "Emma" Zhang, a faculty affiliate of TMI with an appointment in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, and her team - in collaboration with Dr. Xiao Yu from the University of Florida - are one of the 10 finalists for the Gulf Futures Challenge. Out of 164 applications, they were one of the top teams for the Challenge, which offers $50 million to support and fund "impactful ideas that aim to support a safer, more resilient, and sustainable future for the U.S. Gulf Coast Region."
Page 9 of 47
Texas Materials Seminar Series
The Texas Materials Seminar Series features MSE 397 Seminars, TMI Distinguished Lectureships, and TMI Special Seminars, where leading faculty and professionals from around the world share cutting-edge innovations and advancements in materials engineering with our students.
Learn More
News
Alexander Demkov elected as MRS Fellow
Dr. Alexander Demkov, a professor of Physics, an associate faculty member of the Oden Institute, and one of the Texas Materials Institute's Core Faculty, was elected as 1 of the 18 MRS Fellows for 2026.
MS&E Graduate Student Publishes on Connection Between Battery Use, Recharging, & Interface Flattening
Tushare Telmasre, a graduate student in the Materials Science & Engineering Program, has recently published an article in ECS Advances that explores the connection between battery usage, recharging, and the surface of the zinc anode. A student in Dr. Venkat Subramanian's lab, Telmasre, along with postdoctoral researcher Dr. Lubhani Mishra, and other UT researchers from the CMES Lab, the paper finds that how a battery is used and then recharged directly impacts the surface of the anode and dendrite growth.
AirGel Takes Top Prize and People’s Choice Award for Innovative Water-Harvesting Device
*Reposted from UT News*
Weixin Guan and Yaxuan Zhao, graduate researchers with the Texas Materials Institute and the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering, were recognized for their innovative and cost-effective device, AirGel, which extracts drinking water from humidity in the air. Their invention also won the competition’s People’s Choice Award and received a USPTO Patent Acceleration Certificate from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
$2.5 Million Grant Awarded to Deji Akinwande for Wearable Health Technology
Dr. Deji Akinwande, a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering department and an affiliate of TMI, was awarded a contract of up to $2.5 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a governmental agency aimed at funding research that supports biomedical and health breakthroughs. This award will help advance Dr. Akinwande's development of a wearable blood pressure monitoring system, a key vital sign for assessing cardiovascular health.
Team from Samanta Group Publishes on DNA Tweezers & Enzyme Control
Dr. Devleena Samanta, a faculty affiliate of Texas Materials Institute, and a small team from her lab, have recently published a new article introducing the use of single-moledule DNA tweezers (SMDTs) to control enzymes and turn them on and off. Dr. Shivudu Godhulayyagari, a postdoctoral fellow, and Sara Nixon, a graduate student in chemistry, developed this new way to control enzymes without needing to change the enzyme itself.
$12M+
In Grant Funding
20+
Research Patents
10K+
