An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers, the Materials Characterization Laboratory (MCL) is a fully-staffed, open access, analytical research facility at Penn State's Materials Research Institute charged with enabling research and educating the next generation of highly qualified researchers.

MCL laboratories are housed in the Millennium Science Complex and are integrated with the Nanofabrication Laboratory and Materials Computation Center to maximize impact and efficiency. Additionally, MCL is a partner in the Materials Research Facilities Network (MRFN). Supported by the National Science Foundation, this network enhances MCL's ability to support commercial, government, and academic researchers around the globe.

The Materials Characterization Lab has a wide variety of characterization techniques in the areas of Microscopy, Spectroscopy, and Macroscopic techniques which help to increase the different degrees of understanding why different materials show different properties and behaviors.