Surprises from Growth of Highly Mismatched Semiconductor Alloys mrsec.utexas.edu 512-232-9696 Wednesday, Apr 1st, 9:30-10:30 am GLT 4.102 https://utexas.zoom.us/j/82683336638 Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: MRSEC Seminar In conventional semiconductors, adding small atoms decreases the lattice constant and increases the bandgap. But adding very small atoms like C or N actually decreases the bandgap, violating decades of intuition. The band anti-crossing (BAC) model explains this: the new atom introduces a state above the conduction band edge, and the two states repel each other. Ge:Cis especially intriguing because it has a direct bandgap and grows on Si, enabling on-chip lasers and silicon photonics. Adding a larger atom might seem to restore conventional trends, but the bandgap sometimes increases and sometimes decreases, with contradicting results across research groups. Ab-initio (VASP) simulations show that highly mismatched atoms can be canceled out by atom arrangement, whether the mismatched atom is an anion, cation, or purely covalent. Highly mismatched alloys (HMAs) want to segregate, and thermodynamics alone suggests they can't be grown. But kinetically-limited techniques like molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have produced world record-setting lasers and solar cells. Photoluminescence from Ge:Cwith no detectable threading defects will also be shown. HMAs are sensitive to contamination and surface damage during growth. Inattention produces unusual features such as nano-geodes (voids lined internally with tin) and "nanomarshmallows." Assumptions about material growth and properties deserve periodic re-examination, no matter how widely accepted. AI may not be the only source of wrong intuition in the room.

Harnessing membrane-protein interactions to engineer synthetic and cellular lipid membranes mrsec.utexas.edu 512-232-9696 Tuesday, March 31st, 2:00 pm- 3:00 am EER Innovation Center | https://utexas.zoom.us/j/86717794964 Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: MRSEC Seminar Membranes play a vital role in a variety of physiological processes. Recreating these processes outside of the cell will allow us to better understand them as well as design an entirely new class of materials that can sense, transport, or target important biological signals and molecules. In this talk, I will present our recent work harnessing lipid-protein interactions to design membrane-based nanoparticles (sometimes referred to as artificial cells) for biosensing and therapeutic applications. Our approach, bridging synthetic biology techniques and model membrane assembly, provides an innovative yet simple method to probe the role of membrane composition and biophysical properties on protein dynamics and to advance the design of nanoparticles that leverage membrane protein activity. Neha Kamat is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University in the Biomedical Engineering Department in Evanston, Illinois. She was trained as a bioengineer with special emphasis in biophysical analysis of biological and synthetic membranes, and in the production and characterization of membrane proteins using cell-free protein expression systems. She received a BS in Bioengineering from Rice University, a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University/ Massachusetts General Hospital. At Northwestern University, the Kamat lab’s main research interests are to understand and harness biological membranes as a biomaterial for (i) fundamental biological studies related to membrane protein folding and function and (2) translational applications in diagnostics and disease. Neha is the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the Air Force Research Office, an NSF CAREER Award, and the ACS Synthetic Biology Young Innovator Award

Join TXST PREM CIMA for the upcoming Chemistry Seminar by Dr. Brian Belardi, Assistant Professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, on Monday, April 20 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. streamed on Zoom. See attached abstract and biography. Seminar Details 🗓️ Date: Monday, April 20 🕞 Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m. 💻 Join Virtually via Zoom: Meeting ID: 811 6459 5436, Passcode: Seminar​

IRG 2 Meetings

Jan. 26th, Kent Zheng group Feb. 9th, Adrianne, Annual Meeting Practice Feb. 23rd, ???? March 9th, Zak Page group March 23rd, ACS Meeting, no IRG1 meeting April 6th, Dr. Neha Kamat (Northwestern Univ.), host Aniket Marne April 20th, Brainstorming May 4th, Jeanne Stachowiak

IRG 2 Meetings

MRSEC Boba Social Location: EER 3.646

Jan. 26th, Kent Zheng group Feb. 9th, Adrianne, Annual Meeting Practice Feb. 23rd, ???? March 9th, Zak Page group March 23rd, ACS Meeting, no IRG1 meeting April 6th, Dr. Neha Kamat (Northwestern Univ.), host Aniket Marne April 20th, Brainstorming May 4th, Jeanne Stachowiak

Are you preparing for campus recruiting? Learn how to create your virtual elevator pitch for virtual campus recruiting efforts. Join us to learn tips and tricks for virtual interviews and focus on how to prepare a visual elevator pitch that can help you with a virtual interview. This will be an interactive learning session focused on helping you tailor your elevator pitch to a virtual audience.

IRG 2 Meetings