Speakers and panelists at this year’s Princeton Institute of Materials symposium spanned the wide reach of materials science and reflected the discipline’s influence on the full spectrum of technological inquiry.

“I view materials as basically the underpinning of everything we do in engineering and science,” Andrea Goldsmith, the Dean of Engineering, told participants at the conference’s opening in Maeder Hall on April 6. “We weave materials through every advance – semiconductors; using materials in biology to mitigate climate change; for building the next generation of soft robots. Materials are the fabric of everything we do in engineering and applied science.”

Craig Arnold, director of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials and the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, delivered closing remarks.

Goldsmith, the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and cofounder of two startups, said working with industry is a key role for the materials institute and the engineering school. “The most important problems in research come from industry,” she said.

Dean for Research Pablo Debenedetti said current industrial funding for research is the highest in Princeton’s history. He said the materials institute’s Imaging and Analysis Center and Micro and Nano Fabrication Center have been critical to building collaborations with industry.

“Today’s symposium will illustrate how materials research impacts and acts as an incubator for interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Debenedetti, the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of chemical and biological engineering. “Princeton, we are proud to say, is one of the premier locations around the world for materials science research and education. At its center is the Princeton Institute of Materials. It features a unique integration of world-class facilities, fundamental interdisciplinary research, and high-impact innovation engagement with industry.”

Read the full story on the School of Engineering and Applied Science website.