Advanced materials lie at the heart of modern technology.
Progress in materials science over the past decade has yielded novel electronic, magnetic, optical, polymeric, ceramic, and biological materials with improved properties for their intended applications. Virtually every aspect of present-day life relies on smaller, more reliable, more efficient, and less expensive devices made possible by the development of these materials. Devices produced from advanced electronic materials have revolutionized the microelectronics industry, which, in turn, underlies fields such as communications, transportation, and medicine. Photosensitive materials have found applications as light activated dental composites and medical sutures, lithographic imaging media, and protective coatings. New composite ceramic materials are used for aircraft and automotive bodies and engines, turbine blades in electric power plants, and temperature resistant tiles for spacecraft.