Polymer Science And Engineering Department Combining nearly 200 scientists and students with $20 million in instrumentation, the PSE department has become one of the largest and most well-known academic center for polymer research in the world. The department topped the U.S. News and World Report survey for Graduate Polymer programs across the nation. Over 350 Ph.D.'s have been awarded in the department's 30+ year history.

Center for UMass / Industry Research on Polymers The oldest National Science Foundation established Industry / University Cooperative    Research Center (NSF-I/UCRC), since 1980, has evolved into a dynamic Center program. CUMIRP's mission is to act as a crossroads where the University Research and Education meet with Industrial and Government partners in polymer science and engineering at UMass.

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center The MRSEC, established in August 1994 under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, supports fundamental research in polymer science and engineering and related fields. This center is a continuation of the Materials Research Laboratory awarded by the NSF in 1974.

Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing The University of Massachusetts Amherst has established the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM) through a five-year, $16 million grant from the National Science Foundation, with the mission to move nanotechnology from laboratory innovation to manufacturable components and devices. The CHM's research focus is Nanoscale Manufacturing: tools and processes for fabricating engineered nanoscale materials and particles, and assembling and integrating them into larger-scale structures, devices, and systems. Focus areas include additive driven assembly, self-assembly and nanoimprint lithography, all on roll-to-roll process platforms.

Energy Frontier Research Center The University of Massachusetts Amherst hosts a DOE-funded Energy Frontier Research Center, Polymer-based materials for Harvesting Solar Energy (PHaSE). Initial five-year funding of PHaSE totals $16 million. PHaSE’s technical focus is on basic research underpinning the conversion of the sun's energy into electrical power, using polymer-based and related composite materials. The research plan integrates the experimental and theoretical expertise of 17 faculty members from four different departments at the University with that of partner investigators from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the University of Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania State University. PHaSE has international collaborations with universities in Germany, Korea and Japan, and collaborates with researchers at several DOE laboratories, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Konarka Technologies, Inc., a Massachusetts-based industrial leader in polymer-based photovoltaic devices.

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Copyright 2002 Polymer.org Polymer Science & Engineering Dept. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.