This strategic hire is intended to strengthen and expand materials research collaborations across UIC and with national laboratories, including Argonne National Laboratory (and the APS), Brookhaven National Laboratory (and NSLS-II), other U.S. Department of Energy laboratories, and partner universities through major interdisciplinary research centers and funded cooperative agreements. Materials research faculty at UIC conduct both experimental and theoretical investigations spanning a broad range of topics, including quantum materials, energy materials, strongly correlated systems, advanced alloys, advanced manufactured materials, surfaces and low-dimensional systems, energetic materials, hard and superhard materials, nanomaterials, and biomaterials.