Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC) was founded in 1971 as the "Center for Materials Properties ". The center was then renamed as "Center for Applied Research in Material Properties and Energy". In 1992 the Council for Expansion of Higher Education voted to rename the center as the "Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC)". MERC possesses all the required facilities to carry out basic and applied research, together with the facilities to train specialists. The first PhD courses were offered in collaboration with Shanghai University, China, and at the present there are many Masters and PhD students at MERC who are basically working on Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Nanomaterials and Renewable Energies. The high-tech laboratory instruments and the latest research devices together with experienced and proficient operators brings close cooperation between the researchers, faculty members and students on one side and universities, centers and industry on the other side. In recent years, MERC has attained a number of distinctions including its ranking in as the second rank in nanomaterials by the National Nano-Technology Development Office, and scientific achievements such as the Best Professor Award and Distinguished Researcher Award. MERC has also entered into bilateral agreements with organizations from abroad in order to facilitate exchange of research workers and training of PhD students as well as participating in joint research projects, e.g. Center for Scientific Research and Development (New Zealand), University of UPM (Malaysia), The Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (China), National Academy of Science of Belarus,etc. The final objective of MERC is to be a research and scientific pole both in national and international levels to be able to act as a leading center in creating knowledge and converting it to wealth in the line with fulfilling the national development plans.
