Public Abstract

DE-SC0017625: 2017 Soft Condensed Matter Physics Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar: Soft Matter In and Out of Equilibrium

Award Status: Inactive

Institution: Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich, RI
UEI: XL5ANMKWN557
DUNS: 075712877

Most Recent Award Date: 07/03/2017
Number of Support Periods: 1
PM: Markowitz, Michael

Current Budget Period: 08/01/2017 - 07/31/2018
Current Project Period: 08/01/2017 - 07/31/2018
PI: Dogic, Zvonimir

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Important advances over the past few years have begun to elucidate foundational principles that allow for systematic assembly and engineering of soft materials with predetermined structural, mechanical, optical and other properties. The goal of the 2017 Soft Condensed Matter GRC is to describe these recent advances as they are related to design of colloidal and liquid crystalline materials. An equally important goal is to illustrate growing connections between soft matter physics and related interdisciplinary fields, including those of biology, mathematical topology, fluid dynamics, nanotechnology and material science. The 2017 conference will illustrate how principles of soft matter can be used for assembly of novel reconfigurable colloidal materials as well as nanoparticle-liquid crystal nano-composites with intriguing optical properties. The meeting will also describe latest advances in our understanding of how laws of topology can be combined with nanomaterials and principles of soft matter, to design an entirely new class of reconfigurable materials on micron scale. Another session of the meeting will illustrate the connection between soft matter physics and fluid dynamics. Finally, the meeting will also illustrate the emerging experimental techniques, such as dynamical electron microscopy, and their potential to transform our understanding of soft materials. An area of special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between soft materials and biology. Fundamental principles developed in soft matter physics, such as the statistical mechanics of self-assembly, are increasingly applied to biological systems. Conversely, bio-inspired approaches can be applied to construct and understand novel soft matter materials with various applications. For example, the conference will illustrate how fundamental material-like concepts such as rigidity and jamming can be related to design and function of biological proteins. Another area of emphasis at the interface between soft matter and biology will be on emergent behaviors of non-equilibrium active materials, which like living organisms are collectively driven away from equilibrium by energy consuming motile constituent units. The 2017 Gordon Research Conference has been organized to bring together a wide range of practitioners and experts, both from within condensed matter physics and outside the field in order to assess these state-of-the-art advances and identify other fruitful synergies. New experimental data that has become available in the area of biologically inspired materials as well as new theoretical advances in understandg fundamentals of soft materials make this a timely conference. Soft Condensed Matter GRC will bring together an outstanding and diverse group of scientists at the forefront of research, and will make a special effort to include younger scientists and students, specifically at the preceding Gordon Research Seminar. The conference is expected to be the central event in 2017 in Soft Condensed Matter physics and it will have a strong and lasting impact on the entire field.

Important advances over the past few years have begun to elucidate foundational principles that allow for systematic assembly and engineering of soft materials with predetermined structural, mechanical, optical and other properties. The goal of the 2017 Soft Condensed Matter GRC is to describe these recent advances as they are related to design of colloidal and liquid crystalline materials. An equally important goal is to illustrate growing connections between soft matter physics and related interdisciplinary fields, including those of biology, mathematical topology, fluid dynamics, nanotechnology and material science. The 2017 conference will illustrate how principles of soft matter can be used for assembly of novel reconfigurable colloidal materials as well as nanoparticle-liquid crystal nano-composites with intriguing optical properties. The meeting will also describe latest advances in our understanding of how laws of topology can be combined with nanomaterials and principles of soft matter, to design an entirely new class of reconfigurable materials on micron scale. Another session of the meeting will illustrate the connection between soft matter physics and fluid dynamics. Finally, the meeting will also illustrate the emerging experimental techniques, such as dynamical electron microscopy, and their potential to transform our understanding of soft materials.

An area of special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between soft materials and biology. Fundamental principles developed in soft matter physics, such as the statistical mechanics of self-assembly, are increasingly applied to biological systems. Conversely, bio-inspired approaches can be applied to construct and understand novel soft matter materials with various applications. For example, the conference will illustrate how fundamental material-like concepts such as rigidity and jamming can be related to design and function of biological proteins. Another area of emphasis at the interface between soft matter and biology will be on emergent behaviors of non-equilibrium active materials, which like living organisms are collectively driven away from equilibrium by energy consuming motile constituent units.

The 2017 Gordon Research Conference has been organized to bring together a wide range of practitioners and experts, both from within condensed matter physics and outside the field in order to assess these state-of-the-art advances and identify other fruitful synergies. New experimental data that has become available in the area of biologically inspired materials as well as new theoretical advances in understandg fundamentals of soft materials make this a timely conference. Soft Condensed Matter GRC will bring together an outstanding and diverse group of scientists at the forefront of research, and will make a special effort to include younger scientists and students, specifically at the preceding Gordon Research Seminar. The conference is expected to be the central event in 2017 in Soft Condensed Matter physics and it will have a strong and lasting impact on the entire field.