Graduate Program: Interdisciplinary Units: Materials and Photonics

The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) is a multidisciplinary center for education and research in materials science and engineering. Through its undergraduate and graduate programs in materials science, PRISM is dedicated to producing a new generation of leading scientists and engineers that will provide the intellectual capital necessary for significant advances in the understanding and applications of materials. A particular focus at PRISM is on materials with structures tailored at the level of 1-100 nm; chemical engineers, with appreciation of both molecular and macroscopic scales, are key to the success of this effort. Bowen Hall houses both PRISM and the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM), a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center funded by the National Science Foundation. PRISM and PCCM have together established an impressive Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC), equipped with the sophisticated electron and scanning probe microscopes needed for the study of nanostructured materials.

PRISM's graduate curriculum in Materials, which currently consists of eight newly-created courses and over a dozen crosslisted with departments, provides part of the coursework basis for the Ph.D. in Chemical and Materials Engineering. This degree is available to Ph.D. students in the Department of Chemical Engineering with strong interests in materials, and recognizes the fact that students receiving this degree have demonstrated mastery of core areas in both chemical engineering and materials science, and have produced original research at the nexus between these two fields.

PRISM was formed in November 2003, based on foundations of two smaller interdisciplinary centers at Princeton , the former Princeton Materials Institute and the former Center for Photonics and Optoelectronic Materials (POEM), which was established to promote interdisciplinary research and innovation in the fields of photonics and related areas at Princeton, and to establish working relationships with technological and scientific communities outside of academia, such as industry and government. PRISM has active participation from Chemistry, Physics, and Molecular Biology as well as from the SEAS departments, which came from its POEM roots. PRISM has also established an exceptional cleanroom facility, the PRISM Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory, which is accessible to both Princeton and external users.