June 2022
A peek behind the curtain: the MIT facilities key to the world's best materials research
SEFs Operations Manager Charles Settens (standing) helps Graduate Student Kevin Ye with data from a stylus profilometer. A profilometer is capable of mapping features only billionths of a meter high on the surface of a material.
Photo Courtesy Charles Settens
Some 30 sophisticated tools and six research specialists support a variety of experiments across 16 departments
In 2022 MIT was ranked first in the world for its research in materials science, a discipline that encompasses everything from the steel in our cars to the quantum phenomena behind next-generation computers. The Institute has held that post, as compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds Limited, for several years (except for 2021, when it was second).

Brilliant researchers are obviously key to those results, but so are the cutting-edge characterization facilities—and research staff—that support them.
Welcome to the Shared Experimental Facilities (SEFs) run by the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL). MRL SEFs are home to some 30 sophisticated, expensive instruments that would otherwise not be available to individual investigators. Further, those instruments are supported by six research specialists who thrive on helping investigators “optimize time to knowledge,” says SEFs Operations Manager Charles Settens.
That means “we help users navigate the landscape of tools on campus to determine those best suited to solve specific research questions,” says Settens. “We also train them to be proficient at capturing and analyzing their data.”

Sadoway wins European Inventor Award
for liquid metal batteries
Donald Sadoway, nominated for the European Inventor Award 2022 in the category Non-EPO countries. (Copyright: European Patent Office. Photo by Todd Wilson)
Work could enable long-term storage of renewable energy
Sadoway was honored at the 2022 European Inventor Award ceremony on June 21. The Award is one of Europe's most prestigious innovation prizes and is presented annually to outstanding inventors from Europe and beyond who have made an exceptional contribution to society, technological progress and economic growth.

"By enabling the large-scale storage of renewable energy, Donald Sadoway's invention is a huge step towards the deployment of carbon-free electricity generation," says António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO). "He has spent his career studying electrochemistry and has transformed this expertise into an invention that represents a huge step forward in the transition to green energy."

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Mark Beals
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617-253-2129
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Cambridge, MA 02139
617-253-5179