Cornell Leads Platform to Create New Interface Materials

Cornell will lead the Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis and Discovery of Interface Materials — an effort to empower scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to create new interface materials — following a $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation, according to a University press release Friday. PARADIM will allow users to take advantage of Cornell facilities to design new interface materials — materials that do not exist in nature and possess unprecedented properties, according to Prof. Julie Nucci, materials science and engineering. Nucci said the NSF “envisions a network of platforms” engaged in materials engineering research across the country, each with a different focus. The novel aspect of PARADIM is “to be non-serendipitous, to be deliberate” in their approach to materials design, according to Prof. Darrell Schlom, materials science and engineering. Schlom said Cornell has been a leader in the intentional design of new materials since the 1960s, and PARADIM intends “to accelerate the pace at which new materials are discovered.”

Schlom added that the University is an ideal base for one of the first two PARADIM locations.