Everything is made of something.
Making a more sustainable and healthier world starts with imagining new materials. Everything from renewable energy to medical devices to consumer electronics can be advanced by improving the materials they are made from.
Our Programs
Studying the properties of materials and their applications is ideal for those who are excited to work at the forefront of industries like electronics, energy, and healthcare.
Strategic Areas of Research
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![Eric Dufresne Research image of Droplets]()
Bioinspired Materials and Systems
Bioinspired composites, engineered protein films for adhesion, lubrication and sensing applications, molecular tools for in-vitro and in-vivo imaging, and biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery.
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![Andrej Singer Research Image of bright spectrum of colors across a rectangle]()
Electronics and Photonics
Oxide semiconductors, 3D integration, materials beyond silicon, high K and low K dielectrics, plasmonics, spintronics and multiferroics.
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![Research Image from Julia Dshemuchadse's group]()
Energy Production and Storage
Photocatalysis, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, phononics, batteries and supercapacitors.
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![Crosspolarized microscope image of cholesterol acetate crystals with added quarter waveplate]()
Green Technologies
We have targeted green composites and new systems for CO2 capture and conversion as areas of future growth.
News Highlights
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Xing honored for excellence in semiconductor research
Huili Grace Xing, the William L. Quackenbush Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Materials Science and Engineering, is the recipient of the 2025 University Research Award in Technology from the Semiconductor Industry Association and Semiconductor Research Corporation.
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New Cornell startup targets faster, cheaper, greener testing
Newly admitted into the Praxis Center business incubator, Quantera aims to improve scientific sample collection.
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EPICC Awards honor engineering faculty, staff for embodying values
Cornell Engineering celebrated its fourth annual EPICC Awards on Oct. 21, recognizing faculty and staff whose work exemplifies the college’s core values of excellence, purpose, innovation, community, and collaboration.
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Summer Undergraduate Research: Labwork in Sunny Ithaca
Cornell’s campus is far quieter in the summertime, with the vast majority of the student body departed for vacation. However, many research labs are still busy and operational, and some of the undergraduates who elect to spend their summer in Ithaca devote their time to working in them.
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Awards honor Cornell Engineering faculty for teaching, advising
Cornell Engineering honored the transformative impact of its faculty at the 2025 Fall Faculty Reception, recognizing this year’s Teaching and Advising Award winners for their outstanding commitment to student success.
Upcoming Events
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MSE Seminar: Stephen Wu (Rochester)
Two-dimensional moiré quantum materials from strain engineering Strain engineering in electronics has been widely utilized over the last 20 years in most standard Si-based CMOS fabrication processe…
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MSE Seminar: Joerg Werner (Boston U)
Hierarchically Structured Materials for Energy and Sustainability Technologies The nano- and microscale structure of extended composites and porous materials impact the mass and energy transport throu…
