Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy (DMSM)

27 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge, new site of MSM since 2013
Location	Cambridge , United Kingdom
Affiliations	University of Cambridge
Website	www.msm.cam.ac.uk

The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy (DMSM) is a large research and teaching division of the University of Cambridge. Since 2013 it has been located in West Cambridge, having previously occupied several buildings on the New Museums Site in the centre of Cambridge.

Following the changes to academic titles in 2021/2022 at the University of Cambridge,[1] the academic staff of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy no longer use the academic titles of Reader and Lecturer. The list below reflects the new academic titles.

Academic staff

As of October 2022^[update] Professorial staff include:[2]

1. Serena Best, CBE, FREng, Professor of Materials Science
2. Ruth Cameron, Professor of Materials Science
3. Manish Chhowalla, Goldsmiths' Professor of Materials Science
4. Judith Driscoll, FREng, Professor of Materials Science
5. Caterina Ducati, Professor of Nanomaterials
6. Rachel Evans, Professor of Materials Chemistry
7. James Elliott, Professor of Macromolecular Materials Science
8. Lindsay Greer, Professor of Materials Science
9. Louise Hirst, Professor of Materials Physics (jointly appointed with the Cavendish Laboratory)
10. Nick Jones, Professor of Metallurgy
11. Sohini Kar-Narayan, Professor of Device & Energy Materials
12. Neil Mathur, Professor of Materials Physics
13. Paul Midgley, FRS, Professor of Materials Science (Current Head of Department)
14. Rachel Oliver, FREng, Professor of Materials Science
15. Chris Pickard, Sir Alan Cottrell Professor of Materials Science
16. Cathie Rae, Professor of Superalloys
17. Emilie Ringe, Professor of Synthetic and Natural Nanomaterials (jointly appointed with the Department of Earth Sciences)
18. Howard Stone, Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy
19. Jason WA Robinson, Professor of Materials Physics

Heads of Department

1. R.S Hutton - 1944
2. Wesley Austin 1945-1958
3. Sir Alan Cottrell FRS 1958-1966
4. Sir Robert Honeycombe FREng FRS 1966-84
5. Derek Hull FREng FRS 1984-1991
6. Sir Colin Humphreys, CBE FREng FRS 1991-1996
7. Alan Windle FRS 1996-2000
8. Derek Fray FRS FREng 2000-2005
9. Alan Lindsay Greer 2005-2013
10. Mark Blamire 2013-2018
11. Paul Midgley FRS 2018-2020
12. Ruth Cameron, James Elliott, and Jason Robinson 2020- (current)[3]

Research themes

Current research spans seven themes in which there are current materials challenges to overcome:[4]

1. Aerospace materials
2. Information Communication Technologies
3. Innovative Characterisation
4. Materials Discovery
5. Materials for Energy and Sustainability
6. Materials for Healthcare
7. Novel Design and Processing

Research groups

Stair Case of Arup Tower, part of the former site of MSM, at the New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge.

Research is organised into the following groups.[5]

• Device Materials Group
• Electron Microscopy Group
• Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride
• Hybrid Materials Group
• Macromolecular Materials Laboratory
• Centre for Materials Physics
• Materials Theory Group
• Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials
• Microstructural Kinetics Group
• Optical Nanomaterials Group
• Photoactive Materials Group
• Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Advanced Materials
• Space Voltaics Group

Spinout companies

• 2019 - Barocal Ltd - developing new heating and cooling technologies to satisfy low-carbon requirements[6]
• 2018 - Plastometrex Ltd - Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP) - a revolutionary new approach to the mechanical testing of metals[7]
• 2018 - Porotech - specialising in the development of Gallium Nitride material technology[8]
• 2015 - Paragraf Ltd - novel deposition of graphene onto semiconductors
• 2010 - CamGaN (now part of Plessey) - GaN on Silicon LED technology (low cost, low energy lighting)
• 2007 - Inotec AMD - innovative topical oxygen therapy for wound healing
• 2004 - Q-flo (merged with Plasan, CNT fibres now commercialised by Tortech) - ultra-long CNT fibres
• 2004 - Camfridge - energy-efficient and gas-free magnetic cooling
• 2001 - Metalysis - commercialisation of the FFC Cambridge Process. Reduction of metal oxides and ores into pure metals and alloys
• 1989 - CMD Ltd (became part of Accelerys, now part of Biovia Dassault Systems) - X-ray modelling software

Alumni and former staff

Notable alumni and former staff include:

• Sir Harry Bhadeshia FRS FREng
• Alan Cottrell, FRS,[9]
• Robert W. Cahn FRS,[10]
• Robert Honeycombe[11]
• Derek Fray FRS FREng
• Sir Colin Humphreys, CBE FREng FRS
• Alan Windle FRS
• Charles Heycock FRS
• Sir Graeme Davies FREng
• William Bonfield CBE FRS FREng
• Michael F. Ashby CBE FRS FREng
• Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng

See also

• DoITPoMS
• Department of Materials, University of Oxford
• Department of Materials, Imperial College London

References

1. "Reports - Cambridge University Reporter 6582".
2. People in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
3. "New Head of Department announced". Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
4. Materials Challenges in Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
5. Research groups – A to Z list, University of Cambridge
6. "Pioneering innovation in zero-carbon heating and cooling". Barocal.
7. "Materials testing startup Plastometrex raises seed round | Cambridge Network".
8. "LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn".
9. Smallman, R. E.; Knott, J. F. (2013). "Sir Alan Cottrell FRS FREng. 17 July 1919 -- 15 February 2012". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 59: 93–124. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2012.0042.
10. Doherty, R. (2007). "RETROSPECTIVE: Robert W. Cahn (1924-2007) and David Turnbull (1915-2007)". Science. 317 (5834): 56–57. doi:10.1126/science.1145490. PMID 17615332. S2CID 38060682.
11. Smallman, R. E. (2009). "Sir Robert William Kerr Honeycombe KBE. 2 May 1921--14 September 2007". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 55: 91–106. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2008.0020.

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