TMI is committed to engaging the broader community and inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators through a diverse range of outreach activities. TMI provides students, educators, researchers, and industry partners with opportunities to explore materials science, nanotechnology, and advanced research through hands-on programs, laboratory demonstrations, facility tours, workshops, lectures, and campus events. Outreach activities range from K–12 programs and summer academies to university and industry engagement, providing participants with firsthand exposure to nanofabrication, materials synthesis, advanced characterization, artificial intelligence, robotics, and accelerated materials discovery. Through these efforts, TMI seeks to make cutting-edge research more accessible while highlighting the important role of materials science and nanotechnology in addressing future technological and societal challenges. The main areas of TMI’s outreach efforts include:
- K–12 outreach: TMI’s various science Academies provide students with hands-on exposure to materials science and nanotechnology through demonstrations of SEM/FIB, nanofabrication, advanced materials characterization, AI-driven materials discovery, and robotics.
- UT campus events: TMI participates in university-wide outreach and educational events, including Girl Day and the Edison Lectures, providing opportunities to engage students, educators, and the broader UT community with materials science, nanotechnology, and advanced research.
- University outreach: Workshops and facility tours introduce UT researchers to TMI’s facilities, instrumentation, staff expertise, training requirements, and research-support capabilities.
- Industry outreach: TMI engages corporate users and potential industry partners by showcasing advanced characterization, nanofabrication, and accelerated materials discovery capabilities.
To schedule a tour of TMI's facilities, please contact
In 2024, TMI launched two outreach programs:
- TMI’s Science Academies
Designed to introduce high school students to science, materials research, and advanced research instrumentation, the first program in this series, the Academy for Materials and Nanoscience, was launched in the summer of 2024. Over the past three years, the program has welcomed approximately 45 high school students for an immersive week with TMI scientists. Students attend lecture-style presentations and participate in hands-on activities that expose them to nanofabrication processes in TMI’s cleanroom, materials synthesis in TMI’s wet laboratories, and advanced microscopy techniques using instruments such as AFM, SEM, and TEM.
- TMI Summer Research Internships
This program connects TMI faculty with high school students interested in gaining hands-on research experience. Students spend several weeks during the summer either shadowing researchers or conducting research under the guidance of a faculty member, researcher, or graduate student. In summer 2025, TMI launched the Research Internship in Batteries for High Schoolers, with Dr. Mitlin mentoring a high school student in his laboratory. During the six-week internship, the student worked alongside graduate students on research projects focused on battery materials and technologies.
Academy for Materials and Nanoscience
The Academy for Materials and Nanoscience at The University of Texas at Austin invites high school students interested in pursuing a career in STEM, as well as those simply curious about nanoscience and advanced materials, to explore the field through an immersive four-day program hosted by the Texas Materials Institute (TMI).
Each day, participants engage in a combination of lecture-style presentations and hands-on activities in TMI’s laboratories. Students gain firsthand experience with nanofabrication processes in the cleanroom, materials synthesis and processing, and advanced characterization techniques, including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Focused Ion Beam (FIB).
The program also provides students with a broader introduction to research and academic opportunities at UT Austin. Participants tour UT core facilities and research laboratories, learn about ongoing research across campus, and gain insight into the university admissions process through a presentation by UT Admissions. In addition, students have the opportunity to interact with graduate students from the Materials Science and Engineering program during an organized lunch and learn about graduate research, academic pathways, and life as a student at UT Austin.
Topics covered:
- Cleanrooms and their use in chip manufacturing
- Nanofabrication processes such as optical lithography, etch and thin film deposition of metals
- Explore the world of atoms and crystals by building atomic crystal models and visualizing computerized crystal models
- Electron microscopy and its use to the study of materials
- FIB/SEM for fabrication and imaging of cross-section
- Aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy
Hands-on experiences:
- Nanofabrication using optical lithography, spincoating, thin film deposition, etch
- Operation of a Scanning Electron Microscope
- Guided operation of a FIB/SEM system
- Guided operation of an aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscope
- Explore the UT Austin campus and meet UT Austin students, professors and scientists
- Visit several core research facilities at UT Austin
- Learn about how to craft your application to UT from UT Admissions
Where you will learn:
This academy takes place on the UT Austin campus in the Engineering Education and Research Center located at 2501 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712.
Ages 15–18 (10–12 Graders)
Camp Directors: Dr. Raluca Gearba and Dr. Jamie Warner
***2027 Information Coming Soon!***
Meet the Academy Staff
Raluca Gearba
Dr. Raluca Gearba is TMI's Associate Director. She worked for UT Austin since 2010 and in the current position she is primarily managing TMI’s cleanroom, the spectroscopy facility as well as several microscopy facilities, which include Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and the SEM/FIB dual beam system. Prior to joining UT, she was a Goldhaber Fellow at Brookhaven National Lab in New York. She has expertise in the areas of thin film photovoltaics, polymers, liquid crystals and 2D materials.
Jamie Warner
Dr. Jamie Warner is the Hayden Head Centennial Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of TMI. Prior to this he spent 13 years in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford leading the Nanostructured Materials Group. His research focuses on developing advanced transmission electron microscopy methods for atomic level analysis of nanomaterials, with a particular emphasis on understanding the fundamental behavior of new materials in energy generation and storage, catalysis, opto-electronics and quantum technology.
Andrei Dolocan
Dr. Andrei Dolocan is a senior staff scientist and facility manager in TMI since 2011. He has 22+ years of expertise in surface analysis. In TMI he manages the advanced mass spectrometry, electron microscopy and spectroscopy instrumentation. His expertise is geared towards the development of novel imaging methodologies that use in conjunction TOF-SIMS, AFM, SEM, XPS and Raman techniques to provide three-dimensional material properties (chemical composition, morphology, optical properties). He also has extensive knowledge in development of routines for data analysis and theoretical simulations.
Xun Zhan
Dr. Xun Zhan joined TMI in 2023 as a staff scientist where she manages the aberration-corrected scanning electron microscopy facility. Prior to joining UT, Dr. Zhan worked as an assistant research scientist in the Electron Microscopy Center at the Indiana University at Bloomington. Her expertise centers on the development and application of advanced electron microscopy techniques to understand materials behaviors, especially functional nanomaterials.
How do I enroll? Is there an application?
How are participants supervised?
