Welcome to the website for Duke's Materials Initiative!

Meeting the grand challenges of our time, from harvesting solar energy economically to securing cyberspace to developing better medical treatments, requires new and fundamentally improved materials. Innovative and interdisciplinary research and education can furnish the needed materials and technologies.

The Duke Materials Initiative (DMI) was created to enable bold, innovative, and transformative materials science and engineering advances that are only possible when extending beyond and crossing the boundaries between traditional disciplines.

Materials science is about designing a better world.

Upcoming Events

January 14, 2026

Automating Computational Materials Design with Explainable AI

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Fitzpatrick Center Schiciano Auditorium Side A, room 1464

Thomas A.R. Purcell, Ph.D.

High-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations have the capability to quickly screen thousands of materials to identify the top candidates for myriad of energy and sustainability [...]

January 14 DMI Seminar - Thomas Purcell