Department News
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25 April 2013 Department achieves Athena SWAN Bronze Award The Department's Athena SWAN Committee submitted an application to the Athena SWAN Assessment Panel in November last year and yesterday the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy's commitment to following and implementing the Athena SWAN principles was recognised by the panel with a Bronze award. The Athena SWAN Charter recognises and celebrates good employment practice for women working in science, engineering and technology (SET) in higher education and research. The award will be presented at an awards ceremony to be held at The Royal Society of Edinburgh in June. |
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April 2013 Professor Ruth Cameron awarded ERC advanced grant The European Research Council has awarded Professor Ruth Cameron a five-year Advanced Grant of approaching 2.5M euros. The grant will enable a team to work on the design, characterisation and development of 3D engineered environments for regenerative medicine, with target applications in the treatment of cardiac disease, breast cancer and blood disorders. The grant began this month and first appointments are currently advertised at www.jobs.ac.uk. |
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March 2013 Lighting the Future On 28th March, David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science, opened a new £1million gallium nitride (GaN) deposition facility, marking the latest chapter in a decade-long research project led by Professor Sir Colin Humphreys in the Dept. of Materials Science & Metallurgy. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the project will continue to improve a novel method of growing light-emitting diodes (LEDs), reducing their cost by more than 50% and allowing much more widespread use. The method developed by the Humphreys team allows growth of GaN on silicon instead of costly sapphire and silicon carbide. The UK company, Plessey, has already started to manufacture LEDs at its factory in Plymouth, based on this Cambridge technology. In opening the facility, David Willetts said: “LEDs are highly energy efficient but expensive to produce, meaning their domestic use is limited. This excellent new facility will enable researchers to look at more cost-efficient ways to produce LEDs, saving money and benefiting the environment. It will also help keep the UK research base at the very forefront of advanced materials, which is one of the eight great technologies.” Image: Michael LeGoff, CEO of Plessey (left) and Prof. Sir Colin Humphreys (right) present David Willetts MP with a disc of illuminated LEDs made by the process developed in Sir Colin’s group. |
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January 2013 Funding for advanced materials research announced The Rt Hon David Willetts MP has announced new funding of £45 million for advanced materials research, for new facilities and equipment in areas of UK strength such as advanced composites; high-performance alloys; low-energy electronics and telecommunications; materials for energy; and nano-materials for health. This follows the recent government report "Eight Great Technologies", in which research at the University of Cambridge features heavily, including the GaN work of Prof Sir Colin Humphreys, in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy. |
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November 2012 Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award - Materials Science students win second prize! Last month the Dow Chemical Company awarded US$12,500 to three Cambridge postgraduates conducting outstanding research in the name of global sustainability as part of the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge. Giorgio Divitini and Najeeb Ullah – both PhD candidates at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy – scooped the second prize of $2,500 (£1,613) for their research into a sunlight-activated catalyst which can help purify water quickly and cheaply. The substance, which is currently being patented, could be of particular importance in areas where industrial pollutants are rife in the watercourse, such dyes from garment manufacture in many areas in Asia. Giorgio commented, “Najeeb and I are both very happy in having the support and recognition of Dow and the academics in the panel. We are starting work on a prototype and hope to test it in the field in Pakistan soon, to make a difference towards solving a serious real life issue.” |
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August 2012 BP funding for Prof Bhadeshia and co-workers A consortium comprising University of Cambridge’s Prof Harry Bhadeshia and University of Manchester’s Professors Peter Lee and Stuart Lyon is one of the first groups to lead a project funded by the new BP Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM). In order to drive developments in advanced materials, energy giant BP is establishing a $100 million international research centre with the University of Manchester at its hub and the University of Cambridge as one of three further partners contributing to the research programme. |
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June 2012 Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum Another successful ABC Forum was held on the 27 June 2012. This year's Kelly Lecture was given by Dr Alan Taub former VP of Research for General Motors and was entitled "Materials Challenges for a Sustainable Automotive Industry". Five other talks were given by Dr Julian Allwood (Dept. of Eng., University of Cambridge), Prof Matt Rosseinshy (University of Liverpool), Andrew Bloodworth (British Geological Survey), Dr Nigel Knee (EDF), and Prof George Smith (University of Oxford). For more information see: www.msm.cam.ac.uk/forum/ |
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May 2012 Topping out for Materials Science and Metallurgy Building More than sixty guests attended an event in the new Materials Science and Metallurgy Building on the West Cambridge site to watch the traditional topping out ceremony to celebrate the outer shell of the building being completed. (18/05/12) |
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March 2012"The new building this month" New aerial photo of the progress of the new Department building development at West Cambridge.
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February 2012Prof Sir Alan COTTRELL, Kt FRS FREng Head of Department (1958-65), Master of Jesus College (1974-86), and Vice-Chancellor of the University (1977-79). A memorial service will be held at 11 am on Saturday 9 June 2012 in Great St Mary's, the University Church, in Cambridge. Obituary written by Dr Jim Charles |
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February 2012A breakthrough technique for manufacturing LEDs on silicon, developed in the laboratory of Prof Sir Colin Humphreys, will be exploited in the UK by Plessey. Read the full article in the University's Research News. |
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December 2011Congratulations to ED PICKERING and CAROLINE GODDARD on receiving their IoM3 student prizes. Ed won The Royal Charter Prize for the best materials student regardless of discipline. He read Natural Sciences here in Cambridge, specialising in Materials Science, and now continues to study here for a PhD. The A T Green Award for the best ceramics student was awarded to Caroline Goddard, originally at The University of Manchester, but now studying for a PhD in the Department. |
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September 2011Congratulations to ED PICKERING who won the award for BEST MATERIALS STUDENT at the 2011 Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year Awards. |
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August 2011Concrete being poured for new building. Construction has started on the new building for the Department on the West Cambridge Science and Technology Campus. The building is expected to be completed in early 2013. Over many days in July concrete was poured to form the foundation slab for the main building. This large operation has involved cement mixer lorries arriving on site every 8 minutes. In early September there will be an even more carefully choreographed pour -- of the extra-thick anti-vibration foundation slab for our new state-of-the-art electron microscopy suite. |
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June 2011Armourers and Brasiers Cambridge Forum. This year's Kelly Lecture was given by Prof Albert Fert from the Universite Paris-Sud (Orsay). Prof Fert is the first Nobel Prize winner to give a Kelly Lecture and his talk was entitled "Spintronics: Electrons, Spins, Computers and Telephones". Five other talks were given by Prof Simon Cox (Aberystwyth University), Dr Geoffrey Andrews (Ranier Technology), Dr Nikolaos Vlasopoulos (Novacem), Dr Peter Bonfield (BRE and ODA) and Prof Richard Friend (Cavendish). |
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June 2011SKF Technology Centre opens up research into new bearing steels . The SKF University Technology Centre for Steels was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Tom Johnstone, President and Chief Executive Officer of SKF,and the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz. This cermony took place in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy on 9 June 2011. SKF and Cambridge aim to obtain and develop the necessary knowledge for designing the next generation of bearing steels and the Centre will be led by Professor Harry Bhadeshia. |
January 2011Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2010 - This year's excellent RI Christmas Lectures by Mark Miodownik (KCL) under the heading of Size Matters showcased materials and microstructure. Mark featured work from the Cambridge Materials Department: in Lecture 2, John Aveson (from our Rolls-Royce UTP) helped to demonstrate why superalloys are 'super', while Lecture 3 culminated in the story of Alan Windle's ultra-strong carbon-nanotube yarns. |
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November 2010Work has begun at West Cambridge on the construction of a £41 million new home for the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. |
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November 2010University of Cambridge spin-out Q-Flo Limited has signed an agreement with a major manufacturer to continue the commercial development of its super-strong carbon nanotube fibre, which is three times tougher than that currently used to make body armour. |
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September 2010Most powerful microscope in the UK unveiled . The most powerful atom resolving microscope in the UK was today revealed at the University of Cambridge. The new electron microscope, which will enable scientists to view individual atoms in any material, was officially unveiled by the Minister for Universities and Science, the Rt Hon David Willetts MP. |
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June 2010The University honoured Dr Rob Wallach with a Pilkington Prize for his outstanding contributions to teaching. These are awarded annually to 12 members of the University's teaching staff. |
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The 2010 Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum was held on Tuesday 15th June 2010 at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy. |
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A knighthood has been awarded to Professor Colin Humphreys, CBE, FREng for services to Science |
May 2010Senior academic promotions from October 1st: Bill Clegg to be professor; Zoe Barber and Cathie Rae to be readers |
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January 2010Congratulations to Dave Duke, principal technician of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, who has received an MBE in the 2010 New Years honours list. |
December 2009Cambridge scientists have shown that is possible to control the effective magnetization, as well as its direction, in a ferromagnet. Link |
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November 2009Rolls-Royce and the EPSRC announce a new £50 million partnership. The Strategic Partnership in Structural Metallic Systems for Advanced Gas Turbine Applications is the first collaboration of its kind between Rolls-Royce, EPSRC, Birmingham, Cambridge and Swansea universities and will involve at least two of our department academics, Dr Howard Stone and Dr Cathie Rae. Link |
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October 2009Congratulations to Serena Best and Ruth Cameron on their respective promotions to Professorships. |
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September 2009200+ alumni and current members of the department attended a seminar entitled "Cambridge Materials Science around the World in the 21st Century" marking the 800th year of the University. |
June 2009In aid of the Cottrell Appeal and in celebration of the 800th anniversary of the University, our US Alumni met at the Brook Club, New York. This event was attended by HRH The Earl of Wessex, Patron of the Cottrell Appeal and Sir Graeme Davies, Chair of the Cottrell Appeal. Link |
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May 2009SKF sets up a new research laboratory in Cambridge. The SKF UTC will forcus on the physical metallurgy of bearing steels and will be lead by Professor Harry Bhadeshia. Link |
January 2009EPSRC highlight Professor Colin Humphreys world leading research into Gallium Nitride lighting in the first edition of their Pioneer magazine. Link |
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December 2008Cambridge comes top in the 2008 RAE for Materials Science and Metallurgy. Link |
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November 2008Tata Steel has announced the donation to endow a Professorship of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. Based in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, the first Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy will be Dr Harry Bhadeshia, a world renowned expert on the physical metallurgy of steels. Link |
