Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM)

PREM partners California State University Northridge (CSUN) and PCCM collaborate on research, promoting education and improving diversity in materials science. 

csun_prem_webpage_snippet.\

California State University at Northridge (CSUN) is partners with PCCM through a Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM award NSF DMR-0611562) with PI, Gang Lu, of CSUN. CSUN is a minority-serving university, granting degrees through the Master’s level. Each summer, 4-5 CSUN students, supported through the PREM, participate in PCCM’s REU program.

Past collaborations:
In April 29, 2011, PCCM Education Director Dan Steinberg visited Professor of Physics Donna D.N. Sheng (CSUN) and Nicholas Kioussis, gave a presentation, met with local teachers and CSUN/ REU students. As part of  outreach to minority students, a partnership continued with the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) program of California’s community college system. Donna Sheng is also a senior investigator with PCCM's IRG-1 and has co-authored many papers with Professor of Physics and Nobel Laureate, F. Duncan Haldane. 

In April 2012, the PREM award was renewed and the new cycle, led by CSUN faculty Gang Lu, will run from 2012 to 2017. 

On November 1, 2012, former PCCM Director N. P. Ong gave a seminar on Topological Insulators at the Department of Physics, Cal State University, Northridge.

In December 2014, CSUN Physics Professor Donna Sheng visited the Princeton University Department of Physics for one week. She gave a seminar reporting numerical evidence for a novel quantum state, the chiral spin-liquid, on the 2D Kagome lattice.

PREM objectives:

  • initiate and expand collaborations on research and education of Quantum Materials
  • broaden participation in materials research and education through recruitment, retention and outreach programs involving high school and community college students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate students
  • leverage and harness the intellectual power and research infrastructure to address grand challenges in Quantum Materials research
  • promote accessibility of multidisciplinary cutting-edge research and education experience to underrepresented groups
  • stimulate and develop strong industrial-university-national laboratory partnerships in materials research.

PREM research:
The research emphasis will be on the development of physical models, numerical algorithms and robust simulation techniques for the study of:

  • Quantum Phenomena in Topological and Strongly Correlated Materials
  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Hybrid Two-Dimensional Materials
  • Data Enabled Discovery of Novel Materials for Photovoltaic, Spintronic and Catalytic Applications.

For details, visit the CSUN PREM webpage.