October 16, 2025The surface of the lungs is covered with a fluid that increases their deformability. This fluid has the greatest effect when you take deep breaths from time to time, as researchers at ETH Zurich have discovered using sophisticated measurement techniques in the laboratory. (featured in ETH Zurich News) continue reading….
September 24, 2025Pulmonary surfactants reduce the work of breathing, enhance compliance, and prevent alveolar collapse. Yet, their role extends beyond that of a simple surfactant; otherwise, exogenous surfactant therapy would fully restore compliance in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by increasing surface concentration alone. (featured in ScienceAdvances magazine) continue reading….
July 7, 2025The newly commissioned neutron spin echo (ν-NSE) spectrometer at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) represents a significant advancement in the study of slow dynamics in complex materials. Developed through a collaboration between the University of Delaware’s Center for Neutron Science (CNS), NIST, and the University of Maryland, and funded by the National Science Foundation’s Mid-scale Research Infrastructure program (award # 1935956), this instrument greatly enhances the capabilities of the US research community in soft matter, biological sciences, engineering, and magnetic materials. (featured in Innovation News Network) continue reading….
Neutron Spin Echo Spectrometer for the NationNSF Midscale Research Instrumentation -1 Program #1935956 “A world-class Neutron Spin Echo Spectrometer for the Nation: UD-NIST -UMD Consortium” at the 5 year mark (on time and on budget), with the instrument at the NIST Center for Neutron Research and many (but not all) of the scientists, engineers, technicians and students who worked on this project over the past 5 years. We look forward to warm commissioning in 2025 and users on the instrument as the NIST research reactor restarts operation.
High-resolution Methods for Soft Matter Dynamic InvestigationThis tutorial is primarily aimed at graduate students, postdocs, and young faculty working on soft matters who are interested in the unique capabilities offered by backscattering and neutron spin-echo spectrometers to probe the dynamics of their systems at the nanoscale. CLICK HERE for more details and to register.
June 10-14, 2024Neutrons & Food 7 (NF7) at The Tower, University of Delaware Star campus
NF7 will promote a dialogue between researchers and food research/industry. Attracting international participants, the conference welcomes contributions from the wide community of food science and product development, food packaging, quality control and nutrition, as well as neutron users and researchers. Experts on complementary techniques interested in strengthening their use of neutron research are also welcome. This is an exciting opportunity for you and your organization to join the first time that this biannual conference takes place in the United States. CLICK HERE for more details on how to submit an abstract, sponsor the meeting or register.
January 16-22, 2024The CNS in collaboration with NIST partners is hosting the XIIth SasView Contributor Camp at the University of Delaware during the Winter term: Jan 16-22, 2024. This international workshop will bring together students to senior SAS practitioners, and researchers to software developers, to work together as a community for 7 days to advance the state of the widely used SasView program for the analysis of small angle scattering data. This event will be held on the 3rd floor of the Fintech building. continue….
Fundamentals of Neutron Spin Echo (NSE) Spectroscopy for Biology and Soft Matter Workshop 2023An educational workshop on the fundamentals of NSE spectroscopy applied to soft matter and biology will prepare the scientists to use NSE techniques. The basics of static and quasi-elastic neutron scattering, NSE instrumentation, and NSE experimental design and data analysis will be covered. In addition, students will select from three interest group sessions on polymers, proteins, or lipid membranes. The workshop will ready participants to use the new, upgraded NSE in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) to benefit their research. For more information, CLICK HERE.
University of Delaware researchers mixed simulated lunar and Martian soils with a high-pH solution to create geopolymer bricks, then crushed the bricks to see how strong they were. The experiments are helping them work on ways for astronauts to create building materials in space.
Sustained space exploration will require infrastructure that doesn’t currently exist: buildings, housing, rocket landing pads. So, where do you turn for construction materials when they are too big to fit in your carry-on and there’s no Home Depot in outer space?
Fundamentals of Neutron Spin Echo (NSE) Spectroscopy for Biology and Soft Matter WorkshopAn educational workshop on fundamentals of NSE spectroscopy applied to soft matter and biology, will prepare the scientists for the use of NSE techniques. The basics of static and quasi-elastic neutron scattering, NSE instrumentation and NSE experimental design and data analysis will be covered. In addition, students will select from three interest group sessions on polymers, proteins or lipid membranes. The workshop will prepare participants to use the new, upgraded NSE in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) to benefit their research. For more information, CLICK HERE.
