The Billinge Group conducts scientific research into the atomic structure of materials at the nanoscale.  Materials with improved properties are needed to address many of mankind’s toughest problems such as sustainable energy, health and environmental remediation.  An emerging strategy is to try and design materials at the nanoscale (nanotechnology) but a huge experimental challenge is to characterize materials on these very small length-scales.  Our goal is to develop and use advanced x-ray, neutron and electron scattering techniques, combined with advanced computing, to tackle this important and rich problem.