This prestigious university had a very clear vision for its renovated teaching lab: the optimum combination of active group learning and hands-on experimentation for those entering research in the field of Material Science and Engineering,

That called for robust infrastructure (electrical power and data, specialty gases, heating, air conditioning and exhaust systems), leading-edge technology (microscopy, high-speed data and audio-visual integration), and the aesthetic you’re not supposed to notice (clear sight lines, hidden conduits, and borrowed light to name a few).

So what happened to revolutionize computing and produce computers that fit just about everywhere – in a cellphone, in a watch, or in a refrigerator, computers with more than a thousand times more power than the computer that put a man on the moon? Material science, that’s how.

Material science found ways to create super-alloys that gave us semiconductors and integrated circuitry tinier than can be seen by the human eye.  This Arc Melter shown here can produce heat up to 5.000 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature at which the atomic structure changes.

For scientists to fully understand what makes our world tick requires a comprehensive knowledge of our solar system and the biosphere beneath our feet.  That takes them into the realm of temperature extremes, from close to absolute zero to thousand of degrees Kelvin.

The lab to study what happens at the extremes has to be robust, to put it mildly, and loaded up with infrastructure to manage the temperature extremes (e.g., heat exchange systems, cryogenic detectors) and to control the environment (e.g., cleanrooms) – 100 technical submittals-worth.

Science is pushing the boundaries of our natural world and creating materials that exceed the best refinement of organic matter.  Sounds complicated, but think “synthetic oil”.  Thanks to some molecular fine-tuning, our engines are enjoying a better product than conventional oil.

That is just an indication of the potential of this field. The devices shown here are used for applying synthesizing techniques such as crystallography, magnetism, and spectroscopy, techniques that should lead to more discoveries.

The thermoelectric effect is the conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and the reverse, a thermoelectric module may be used for both heating and cooling.  Interesting but that seems like a hard way to create electricity.  It is indeed.  However, there are applications where this is a very practical option, such as in space exploration and in military equipment.