Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been awarded $499,581 under the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future (DMREF) collaborative research initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Materials Research under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049). The award, effective February 1, 2026, through January 31, 2030, supports a three-thrust research effort addressing the design and characterization of highly entangled materials such as polymer networks, textiles, and steel-cable structures. The project will deliver quantitative metrics of entanglement geometry developed through integrated theory, computation, and experimentation across multiple length scales, utilizing testbeds constructed from 3D-printed textile architectures and woven metamaterials to correlate structural features with mechanical performance.

The primary deliverables include simplified digital network representations of complex fiber entanglements, open-source computational tools and datasets for scalable design and optimization of industrial-scale fabrics and textiles, and a closed-loop framework for describing entangled matter using physical network models. Secondary deliverables encompass educational integration of network science across collaborating institutions and public awareness initiatives, including a public art exhibit focused on visualizing networks to advance understanding of network-science-driven materials engineering. These outputs will enable the targeted design of entangled materials with user-defined mechanical properties across diverse industrial applications.