The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Colorado at Boulder $3.1 million to support the Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center.
The grant marks the joining of CU-Boulder to an elite group of 25 universities funded by NSF聮s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program, which includes Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Princeton and Stanford. The funding is spread over four years and is renewable.
"We are absolutely delighted by our success in this competition," said physics Professor Noel Clark, director of the center. "Of 127 new proposals received by NSF this year, only four were funded."
"This proves that CU can compete at the very highest levels for federal materials research dollars," added David Walba, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and associate director of the center. "One of the keys to our success was CU聮s excellent K-12 outreach program, Science Discovery. Thousands of Colorado K-12 students will now be able to learn about materials science through traveling presentations throughout the state."
Founded in 1993, the Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center consists of a group of interdisciplinary, internationally recognized researchers dedicated to extending the frontiers of knowledge about liquid crystals. The center will work with scientists from the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Utah and the University of Oklahoma.
Liquid crystals are made up of flexible organic molecules which tend to line up parallel to one another, Clark explained. They are materials that in many ways are "in between" solid and liquid states. The molecular alignment gives the materials optical properties typically found in crystals, while the liquid character allows them to flow.
Liquid crystals are found in the delicate and beautiful walls of a soap bubble and as the major component of living cell walls. The most important application of liquid crystals is as the display medium in laptop and high-end desktop computer displays.
While liquid crystals already are used in important applications, the CU center's research focuses on ferroelectric liquid crystals. These materials, discovered about 20 years ago, are a considerably more complex type of liquid crystal with unique applications.
The superior performance of ferroelectric liquid crystals is well suited for working with the semiconductor electrical switches found in computer chips, said Joseph Maclennan, research assistant, physics professor and a principal investigator in the center. Integration of liquid crystals with semiconductors provides a new generation of "optical chips" -- computer chips that work with light as well as electricity. These chips could be used to develop computers that see and recognize objects, including people, next-generation televisions and virtual reality sets.
The interdisciplinary nature of liquid crystal science, and the fascinating applications of liquid crystals, makes the field ideal for building kid-friendly and highly educational presentations, Walba said. The center offers a Liquid Crystal Wizards Show, part of the "CU Wizards" series for schoolchildren and their parents.
In this presentation, children learn about polarized light, how red, green and blue can be combined to create all the colors, and how a liquid crystal display works. "A popular part of the show is when parents demonstrate the molecular alignment in liquid crystals by dancing to the Macarena," Walba said.
The new funding will allow the Liquid Crystal Wizards Show to travel to other parts of Colorado. Also, the Science from CU program, part of CU's Science Discovery outreach, will develop a series of presentations based on materials science.
"This funding will enable us to respond to a demand from teachers in Colorado for more physical science presentations in the outreach program," said Christine Morrow, director of Science from CU and a center associate. "The breadth and practical applications of materials science provide an excellent source for these new lecture-demonstrations."
The center's Web site, with CU Wizards photos, is at flcmrc.colorado.edu. Science from CU is on the Web at . The NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Web site is at .