diff --git a/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js b/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
index 71ff7eb7d4b59522a4480914caa7bb06c2278b4b..dda5b2a28095f8405994a21efaa82445030d4081 100644
--- a/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
+++ b/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ define(['underscore', 'three', 'appState', 'lattice', 'materialsPlist', 'threeMo
 
     function newMaterial(data, options){
         options = options || {};
+        data = data || {};
         var material, id;
+
         if (data.sparseCells) {
             id = data.id || getNextCompositeID();
             material = new DMACompositeMaterial(data, id);