Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter Symposium 2023

The University of Chicago and University of California San Diego MRSECs are co-sponosoring a Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter Symposium.  This provides a platform for exceptional early-career scientists in the broad field of soft and biological matter to present their work.  The speakers are chosen for their track record of research accomplishments and demonstrated contributions to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. 

Please register for this Virtual Symposium by filling out this short form to receive an email with a Zoom link closer to the date.

All times are indicated in Central Daylight Time. 

Thursday, October 12

10:30 a.m. Tech Check  - Margaret Gardel (Symposium Participants only)

10:55 a.m. UChicago MRSEC Director/ Introduction

Session 1- 
(Chairs: Stuart Rowan, Chibueze Amanchukwu, Jon Pokorski)

11:00-11:18 Sang Cheol Kim High entropy electrolytes with ion cluster modulation for lithium metal batteries
11:18-11:36 Kaitlin Landy Programming Nucleation and Growth in Colloidal Crystals Using DNA
11:36-11:54 Hao Yu ntermolecular Charge Transport in Host-Guest Supramolecular Complexes
11:54-12:12 Anqi Zhang Minimally invasive neuroelectronics
12:15-12:45 Break/Discussion with Speakers 


Session 2- 
(Chairs: Jon Pokorski and Chong Liu, Darren Lipomi

 1:00- 1:18 Samuel Root Autonomous alignment and self-healing in multilayer soft electronics using immiscible dynamic polymers
 1:18-1:36 Hui Sun Template-directed Assembly of Silk Proteins in Advanced Materials for AgroFood Sustainability
1:36- 1:54 Beihang Yu Nanopatterned Monolayers of Bioinspired, Sequence-Defined Polymer Brushes for Semiconductor/Bio Interfaces
  1: 54- 2:12 Mike van der Naald Rigid Clusters in Dense Suspension Flow
 2:30-3:00 Break/ Discussion with speakers

3:00 - 4:00 Informal Discussion in Field Specific Breakout rooms - Networking, Job Search

Leaders: Stuart Rowan, Jon Pokorski, Chong Liu, Jasmine Nirody, Andrea Tao


Friday, October 13

Session 3- 
(Chairs: Heinrich Jaeger, Tom Witten, and William Irvine)

10:00-10:18 Meng Li Magnetic Putty as a Reconfigurable, Recyclable, and Accessible Soft Robotic Material
10:18- 10:36 Carla Fernandez-Rico Elastic Microphase Separation Produces Bicontinuous Materials
10:36- 10:54 Paul Baconnier Active elastic solids – a classification for collective actuations
10:54-11:12 Lauren Altman Experimental Demonstration of Coupled Learning in Elastic Networks
11:15-11:45 Break/ Discussion with Speakers

Session 4 -  
(Chairs: Margaret Gardel, Mike Sailor, 1 other person)

12:00- 12:18 Thomas Videbaek Economical routes to size-specific assembly of self-closing structures
12;18- 12:36 Aravind Chandrasekaran Kinetic trapping determines actin filament organization, thereby controlling the shape of liquid droplets
12:36- 12:54 Vinny Chandran Suja Subcutaneously administered monoclonal antibodies: Integrating tissue-on-a-chip measurements and transport modeling for assessing the elusive bioavailability
12:54-  1:12 Bibi Najma Multiscale investigation of the emergent behaviors in biomimetic active matter
 1:12- 1:45 Break/ Discussion with Speakers 


 

1:45   Conclusion/ Thank you!