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1. A Model for Materials Science in Physics and Chemistry Curricula and Research at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution

   https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2017.96  

   Burnett, Brandon; Inglefield, Colin; Rabosky, Kristin (January 2017, MRS Advances)

   ABSTRACT Materials science skills and knowledge, as an addition to the traditional curricula for physics and chemistry students, can be highly valuable for transition to graduate study or other career paths in materials science. The chemistry and physics departments at Weber State University (WSU) are harnessing an interdisciplinary approach to materials science undergraduate research. These lecture and laboratory courses, and capstone experiences are, by design, complementary and can be taken independently of one another and avoid unnecessary overlap or repetition. Specifically, we have a senior level materials theory course and a separate materials characterization laboratory course in the physics department, and a new lecture/laboratory course in the chemistry department. The chemistry laboratory experience emphasizes synthesis, while the physics lab course is focused on characterization techniques. Interdisciplinary research projects are available for students in both departments at the introductory or senior level. Using perovskite materials for solar cells, WSU is providing a framework of different perspectives in materials: making materials, the micro- and macrostructure of materials, and the interplay between materials to create working electronic devices. Metal-halide perovskites, a cutting-edge technology in the solar industry, allow WSU to showcase that undergraduate research can be relevant and important. The perovskite materials are made in the chemistry department and characterized in the physics department. The students involved directly organize the collaborative exchange of samples and data, working together to design experiments building ownership over the project and its outcomes. We will discuss the suite of options available to WSU students, how we have designed these curricula and research, as well as some results from students who have gone through the programs. 

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2. Toward biomimetic and living earth materials

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2023.11.003  

   Armistead, Samuel J.; Mikofsky, Rebecca A.; Srubar, Wil V. (December 2023, Matter)

   Earthen building materials are experiencing a renaissance in light of the climate crisis. To engineer high-performance sustainable and durable earthen materials for the 21st century, the importance of chemistry—and biology—cannot be underestimated. 

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3. General Chemistry for Engineers in the 21st Century: A Materials Science Approach

   https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2017.40  

   Sinex, Scott A.; Halpern, Joshua B.; Johnson, Scott D. (January 2017, MRS Advances)

   ABSTRACT In the case of General Chemistry, many engineering students only take a one semester class with important topics such as kinetics and equilibrium being given limited coverage. Considerable time is spent covering materials already covered in other courses such as General Physics and Introduction to Engineering. Moreover, most GChem courses are oriented toward health science majors and lack a materials focus relevant to engineering. Taking an atoms first approach, we developed and now run a one-semester course in general chemistry for engineers emphasizing relevant materials topics. Laboratory exercises integrate practical examples of materials science enriching the course for engineering students. First-semester calculus and a calculus-based introduction to engineering course are prerequisites, which enables teaching almost all the topics from a traditional two semester GChem course in this new course with advance topics as well. To support this course, an open access textbook in LibreText, formerly ChemWiki was developed entitled General Chemistry for Engineering . Many of the topics were supported using Chemical Excelets and Materials Science Excelets, which are interactive Excel/Calc spreadsheets. The laboratory includes data analysis and interpretation, calibration, error analysis, reactions, kinetics, electrochemistry, and spectrophotometry. To acquaint the students with online collaboration typical of today’s technical workplace Google Drive was used for data analysis and report preparation in the laboratory. 

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4. Introduction to the themed collections in memoriam of Prof. Richard T. Williams (May 27, 1946–July 5, 2021)

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tc90173k  

   Jurchescu, Oana D.; Wolszczak, Weronika; Burger, Arnold; Bourret-Courchesne, Edith; Dorenbos, Pieter (October 2022, Journal of Materials Chemistry C)

   This themed collection published across the Journal of Materials Chemistry C and Materials Advances commemorates Richard T. Williams, Reynolds Professor of Physics at Wake Forest University (WFU), who passed away on July 5, 2021, at the age of 75. 

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5. Exploring the frontiers of condensed-phase chemistry with a general reactive machine learning potential

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01427-3  

   Zhang, Shuhao; Makoś, Małgorzata Z; Jadrich, Ryan B; Kraka, Elfi; Barros, Kipton; Nebgen, Benjamin T; Tretiak, Sergei; Isayev, Olexandr; Lubbers, Nicholas; Messerly, Richard A; et al (May 2024, Nature Chemistry)

   Abstract Atomistic simulation has a broad range of applications from drug design to materials discovery. Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) have become an efficient alternative to computationally expensive ab initio simulations. For this reason, chemistry and materials science would greatly benefit from a general reactive MLIP, that is, an MLIP that is applicable to a broad range of reactive chemistry without the need for refitting. Here we develop a general reactive MLIP (ANI-1xnr) through automated sampling of condensed-phase reactions. ANI-1xnr is then applied to study five distinct systems: carbon solid-phase nucleation, graphene ring formation from acetylene, biofuel additives, combustion of methane and the spontaneous formation of glycine from early earth small molecules. In all studies, ANI-1xnr closely matches experiment (when available) and/or previous studies using traditional model chemistry methods. As such, ANI-1xnr proves to be a highly general reactive MLIP for C, H, N and O elements in the condensed phase, enabling high-throughput in silico reactive chemistry experimentation. 

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