Research
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Areas of Research
Materials Characterization

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Microscopy and Microanalysis

Seeing structure and composition directly, at the scale on which properties are determined, is central to materials science. Northwestern research teams develop and use electron microscopy, scanning probe methods, and atom probe tomography to resolve atomic arrangement, chemistry, and defects, and to correlate several techniques on the same specimen. Instruments range from those in individual research laboratories to the department's world-class NUANCE and NUCAPT centers.

Core Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Emeritus Faculty

Research Faculty

  • Roberto dos Reis

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Synchrotron and Ultrafast Methods

Some questions can only be answered at large national user facilities, where X-ray and other sources provide intensity, coherence, penetration, and time resolution unavailable in the laboratory. Northwestern faculty use synchrotron and neutron beamlines, including the University’s own sector at the nearby Advanced Photon Source, and ultrafast sources that follow structural change as it happens.

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In Situ and Operando Methods

Materials behave differently under load, temperature, or electrochemical bias than they do at rest, and much of what matters happens only while they are working. Northwestern faculty develop and apply methods to observe materials during reaction, deformation, and cycling, rather than inferring what happened from before-and-after comparison.

Core Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Emeritus Faculty

Research Faculty

  • Roberto dos Reis

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Autonomous and High-Throughput Characterization

Measuring many samples, or many conditions, faster than one at a time changes the questions that can be asked. Northwestern research teams combine combinatorial libraries, automated instrumentation, and machine learning to acquire and interpret large characterization datasets, and to close the loop with agentic workflows in which the result of one measurement decides what is measured next.

Core Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Research Faculty

  • Roberto dos Reis

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