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Our "cover picture," shown above, is a Lithium-4 cluster. It's symmetric and non-symmetric meta-stable states have different magnetic properties so that it is a simple example of a molecular-level memory device. We show it here because three of our department faculty members, Drs. Jena, Khanna, and Rao, have been heavily involved in this area of research and originated the idea of using the Li₄ cluster as a molecular switch.

Our department has organized and hosted five major international conferences on atomic clusters and related areas in the past 15 years. The Consortium for Nanostructured Materials, an international collaborative venture which involves more than thirty universities and corporations originated from VCU. The purpose of the collaboration is to promote and facilitate cooperative and multi-disciplinary research leading to the synthesis, characterization, and fundamental understanding of atomically engineered and nanostructured materials. The consortium fosters collaborative research among universities, industries, and government laboratories.

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