After 12 years as MRI director, Clive Randall to step down

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After more than a decade as director of the Penn State Materials Research Institute (MRI), Clive Randall, Evan Pugh University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, will step down to refocus his efforts to teaching and research. He will remain on as director through the summer of 2026 to help guide the transition.  

MRI is one of the seven research institutes at Penn State. Randall has served as director of MRI since 2014, following the late Carlo Pantano, who was MRI director from 1998 to 2014. Randall’s decision to step down comes after careful planning to help ensure a smooth transition to a new director, he said.  

During his 12 years of leadership, Randall oversaw MRI efforts that helped Penn State achieve a ranking of first in materials science and second in materials engineering as per the 2023 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, the most recently released rankings. The HERD Survey is a widely recognized benchmark that tracks research activity across U.S. higher education institutions, providing insight into research strength and capacity across disciplines.     

“Clive has done a terrific job as MRI director,” said Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Penn State. “His unique blend of subject matter expertise, his ability to partner with industry, and his enthusiasm for all things materials propelled MRI and Penn State to national leadership. On behalf of so many at Penn State, I thank him for his uncompromising approach to student success and research excellence.”   

MRI saw notable advances during Randall’s tenure. When MRI moved into the Millennium Science Complex, much of its instrumentation was outdated, so Randall worked to modernize the institute’s core facilities and infrastructure. Under his leadership, MRI’s Nanofabrication Laboratory became ISO 9001-certified and expanded its capabilities to include cutting-edge tools such as 8-inch wafer processing. 

“These updates helped MRI remain at the forefront of materials research and created new opportunities for Penn State faculty, students and external partners,” Randall said. “I’m pleased and proud with what we were able to accomplish as an institute.” 

Randall also collaborated with Joan Redwing, distinguished professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering and associate MRI director at the time, in developing and expanding the Two-Dimensional Crystal Consortium (2DCC-MIP), a national user facility funded by the NSF that supports research next-generation electronic and quantum materials. Working with colleagues across Penn State and beyond, Redwing — the current 2DCC-MIP director — and Randall helped establish the 2DCC as a hub for materials synthesis, characterization and device fabrication.  

Under Randall’s direction, MRI also broadened its reach into nationally strategic research areas such as semiconductors, microsystems, artificial intelligence, digital twins and advanced manufacturing. He championed interdisciplinary collaboration across materials science, engineering and life sciences, fostering new research directions in living materials and international partnerships, including with the University of Freiburg in Germany. This led to the joint development with Freiburg of the Convergence Center for Living Multifunctional Material Systems, which has blossomed under the directorship of Zoubeida Ounaies, who is also MRI associate director and distinguished professor of mechanical engineering. 

Another notable advancement during Randall’s tenure was one of his own research innovations: cold sintering, which revolutionized ceramic processing by using much lower heat than traditional methods, along with pressure and active chemical agents. Cold sintering enables far more energy-efficient and sustainable ceramic manufacturing and has opened the door to new materials. Building on this work, Randall has more recently begun studying “non-equilibrium phenomena” — the temporary, out-of-balance conditions that occur while a material is being made — and how they affect the performance of piezoelectric materials, which are materials that generate an electrical charge when squeezed or stretched.  

For more than a decade, Randall led MRI through several key accomplishments, including its response to one of the greatest challenges global scientific research has ever faced — the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“When the first reports came in that the virus was spreading in China, I knew we were facing a global challenge that would deeply affect research,” Randall said. “We pulled together an emergency team in late January 2020, before much of the country had reacted, to ask the hard questions: What happens to us if this indeed becomes a global pandemic? That early planning allowed us to protect our people and maintain critical research operations. I’m proud of how our team came together in those uncertain days and helped set a framework for getting Penn State research safely back on its feet.”  

With Randall moving on to focus on research and educating the next generation of materials researchers, a national search is underway for a new director. The search will be led by Tracy Langkilde, the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science, with a goal of having a new director installed by spring of 2026. Potential candidates for the directorship are encouraged to learn more and apply via Penn State’s Career Opportunities Portal.