2018 Events
2017 Events
2016 Events
2015 Events
2014 Events
2013 Events
2012 Events
2011 Events
2010 Events
2009 Events
2008 Events
2007 Events
2006 Events
2005 Events
2004 Events
2003 Events
2002 Events
2001 Events
2000 Events
1999 Events
| December 13, 2017 | Squishy Physics Seminar Prof. Jeff Gelles, Department of Biochemistry, Brandeis University 5:20pm | Pearce Hall, Room 209 Cells in all forms of life regulate the actions of their genes by controlling the production of messenger RNAs. The regulatory molecular machinery is complex, often involving a dozen or more different proteins that may interact with each other, with RNA polymerase, with template DNA and with nascent RNA. I'll discuss projects in which we used in vitro multi-wavelength single-molecule fluorescence approaches to elucidate dynamic mechanisms by which bacterial transcript elongation is regulated. The studies show that quasi-equilibrium models are not adequate to explain these regulatory processes — they are kinetically controlled — and they reveal unexpected features of regulation, including a new transcription cycle for bacterial RNA polymerase.
|
| December 10, 2017 | Holiday Lecture Series 11:00am - 12:00pm, and 2:00pm - 3:00pm sessions | Science Center Lecture Hall B
Where does chocolate come from? Why does some chocolate melt in your mouth but not in your hand? What makes a chocolate bar smooth and creamy? |
| December 1, 2017 | 73rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| September 22, 2017 | 72nd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| June 16, 2017 | 71st New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Tufts University |
| March 24, 2017 | 70th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| November 30, 2016 | 69th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| September 21, 2016 | 68th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| June 6, 2016 | 67th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Tufts University |
| March 23, 2016 | 66th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| December 4, 2015 | 65th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| September 18, 2015 | 64th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| June 5, 2015 | 63rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Tufts University |
| March 20, 2015 | 62nd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| February 28, 2015 | Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program, applications and transcripts due. |
| December 5, 2014 | 61st New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| December 1, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Joan Roca (@CanRocaCeller), El Celler de Can Roca 7:00pm | Science Center Hall D El Celler de Can Roca: Roots, Innovation, and Creation |
| November 25, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Nathan Myhrvold (@ModernCuisine), former CTO of Microsoft, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, author of Modernist Cuisine 7:00pm | Science Center Hall D Modernist Cuisine |
| November 17, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Jody Adams (@JodyAdams), Rialto 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Fermentation: An Ancient Trend |
| November 14-15, 2014 | Shining Light on Matter and Mind Symposium 8:15am - 10:00pm | Jefferson Physical Laboratory This Symposium in honor of Eric Mazur aims to bring together a diverse collection of scientists and educators whose career paths have intersected with Eric's and who share the passion Eric has for science, education and innovation. On the scientific side, the shared focus is the use of light to elucidate complex phenomena in materials while emphasizing the intuitive approach that has often characterized Eric's contributions to the field. On the educational front, the common thread is the use of innovative approaches to engage curious minds and to train the next generation of scientists and innovators. This event is co-sponsored by the MRSECs at several Universities across the country and is being held in the Jefferson Physical Laboratory at Harvard University on November 15, 2014.
|
| November 10, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Where is the Acid? |
| November 3, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Christina Tosi, Milk Bar 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Emulsions and Foams |
| October 27, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Martin Breslin (@HUDSinfo), Harvard University Dining Services 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C The History of Culinary Thickeners |
| October 20, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Ferran Adrià (@FerranAdria), elBulli Foundation 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C NOTE: TICKETED EVENT
Tickets will be made available at the Harvard Box Office (located in the Holyoke Center, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA) beginning at noon on Tuesday, October 14. The tickets are free-but first come, first served. |
| October 13, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Dominique Crenn (@DominiqueCrenn), Atelier Crenn 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Metamorphosis of Taste |
| October 8, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gabi Steinbach, NYU / Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: A basic issue in condensed matter physics is the quest for structure formation and the ability to control them. Video microscopy of colloidal ensembles established as a versatile method due to the easily accessible time and length scale. Specifically tailored particles have shown to assemble into a variety of basic structure elements such as simple lines, rings, crystallites and branching. In my talk I will present a 2D experimental study on magnetic Janus colloids with multipolar interaction. Besides translational ordering, this system allows the visualization of directional, i.e. magnetic ordering. Self-assembled finite structures show zigzag lines with antiparallel magnetic ordering which end in bifurcation points with threefold symmetry. The artificial creation of close-packed clusters on the other side show a 120? Ne?l ordering. Under 3D external fields the effective interaction potential between particles is varied, which leads to first order phase transitions. I will show under which conditions the phase transformation is fully reversible. In the second part of the talk I present studies on magnetic ordering while the particle positions are fixed on a square or triangular lattice. We observe concentric flux-closure rings for small particle ensembles, which are broken up into a number of small vortex and anti-vortex states by external field sweeps. Similar topological excitations are observed e.g. in magnetic thin films. |
| October 6, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Enric Rovira, master chocolatier 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Heat Transfer and Chocolate |
| September 29, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Bill Yosses (@BillYosses), former White House Pastry Chef, author of The Perfect Finish Steve Howell, project scientist, NASA Kepler & K2 missions 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C gAstronomy |
| September 24, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Nick Gravish, Harvard University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Large collections of living, interacting, organisms fascinate us because they often display emergent, seemingly coordinated behaviors. However, these behaviors usually stem from simple rules that members of the systems follow. Recent advancements have led to a broad understanding of the behavioral rules among organisms that interact at a distance such as populations that flock, swarm, or collectively migrate. Less attention has been paid to collective systems that interact in close proximity, in situations where mechanical interactions such as collisions or fluid-structure coupling dominate. Consequently, there is much to learn about the principles of collective, mechanically interacting biological systems. This talk presents two examples of this phenomena, focusing on the collective behaviors of social insect systems, the fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) and the honeybee (Apis melifera). In both systems I will show that close-proximity mechanical interactions are integral to the collective behaviors observed. These mechanical interactions include the interlocking of limbs within in a self-assembled raft, the steric interactions that occur between ants during heavy traffic within a nest tunnel, and the fluid-mechanical interactions that occur among honeybees while ventilating a nest. This research incorporates field and laboratory experiments on these biological systems with the study of computational and robotic model systems. |
| September 22, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Mark Ladner (@ChefMarkLadner), Del Posto 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Al Dente: When Plastic Meets Elastic |
| September 19, 2014 | 60th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| September 17, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zi Chen, Dartmouth 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Mechanical forces play a key role in the shaping of versatile morphologies of thin structures in natural and synthetic systems. The morphology and deformation of thin ribbons, plates and rods and their instabilities are systematically investigated, through both theoretical modeling and table-top experiments. An elasticity theory combining differential geometry and stationarity principles is developed for the spontaneous bending and twisting of ribbons with tunable geometries in presence of mechanical anisotropy. Closed-form predictions are obtained from this theory with no adjustable parameters, and validated with simple, table-top experiments. For large deformation of ribbons and plates, a more general theory is developed to account for mechanical instability (slap-bracelet type) induced by geometric nonlinearity, due to the competition between inhomogeneous bending and mid-plane stretching energy. This comprehensive, reduced parameter model leads to unique predictions about multistability that are validated with a series of table-top experiments. Furthermore, this study has been extended to interpret a different type of snap-through instability that the Venus flytrap has been actively employing to capture insects for millions of years, and the learnt principle is used to guide the design of bio-mimetic flytrap robot. |
| September 15, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Joanne Chang '91 (@jbchang), Flour Bakery, author of Flour and Flour Too 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C The Science of Sugar |
| September 8, 2014 | Science & Cooking Lecture Series Dave Arnold (@CookingIssues), Booker & Dax, and host of "Cooking Issues" Harold McGee (@Harold_McGee), writer, Curious Cook 7:00pm | Science Center Hall C Science and Cooking: A Look at the Last Twenty Years |
| August 20, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Douglas Brumley, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Flows generated by ensembles of flagella are crucial to development, motility and sensing, but the mechanisms behind this striking coordination remain unclear. We present novel experiments in which two micropipette-held somatic cells of Volvox carteri, with distinct intrinsic beating frequencies, are studied by high-speed imaging as a function of their separation and orientation. Analysis of time series shows that the interflagellar coupling, constrained by lack of connections between cells to be hydrodynamical, exhibits a spatial dependence consistent with theory. At close spacings it produces robust synchrony for thousands of beats, while at increasing separations synchrony is degraded by stochastic processes. Manipulation of the relative flagellar orientation reveals in-phase and antiphase states, consistent with dynamical theories. Flagellar tracking with exquisite precision reveals waveform changes that result from hydrodynamic coupling. This study proves unequivocally that flagella coupled solely through a fluid can achieve robust synchrony despite differences in their intrinsic properties. |
| August 13, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wim L. Noorduin, Harvard 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Complex nano/microstructures are of fundamental interest, and the ability to program their form has practical ramifications in fields such as optics, catalysis and electronics. We developed microstructures in a dynamic reaction-diffusion system that allows us to rationally devise schemes for precisely sculpting a great variety of elementary shapes. Detailed understanding of the underlying reaction-diffusion mechanisms allows us not only to program elementary shapes, but also steer the precipitating reactants into complex flowers, corals, vases, and patterns, with precise control over placement of stems, leaves, etc. via sequential combinatorial assembly of the developing shapes. These findings may hold profound implications for understanding and ultimately expanding upon nature's morphogenesis strategies, and outline a novel approach to use sequences of dynamic modulations of the environment to steer self-assembly processes as a route to advanced, highly complex microscale materials and devices. |
| August 6, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Cullen R. Buie; MIT, Department of Mechanical Engineering 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: This study investigates drop impingement on porous media including thin films, paper, and soil. Experiments reveal previously unexplored impingement modes on porous surfaces designated as necking, spreading, and jetting. Dimensional analysis yields a new non-dimensional parameter, denoted the Washburn-Reynolds number, relating droplet kinetic energy and surface energy. The impingement modes correlate with Washburn-Reynolds number variations spanning four orders of magnitude and a corresponding energy conservation analysis for droplet spreading shows good agreement with the experimental results. The simple scaling laws presented will inform the investigation of dynamic interactions between porous surfaces and liquid drops for applications ranging from droplet microfluidics to inkjet printing. In addition, high-speed imaging has revealed evidence of aerosol generation during drop impingement on dry porous media including soils. After impact, tiny gas bubbles form inside the droplet, fed by air escaping the porous media. The tiny bubbles break resulting in microscale jets that quickly break up into droplets. Within a specific range of impact velocity, we observe furious ejection of tiny droplets, producing aerosol clouds above the surface. Aerosol generation can be predicted with knowledge of the surface properties and impact conditions. This work illustrates that aerosols can easily be generated on porous surfaces, with intriguing environmental and engineering implications. |
| July 30, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Nicolas Vogel, Harvard 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Materials in nature are characterized by structural order over multiple length scales evolved for maximum performance and multi-functionality and are often produced by self-assembly processes. A striking example of this design principle is structural coloration, where interference, diffraction and absorption effects result in vivid colors. Mimicking this emergence of complex effects from simple building blocks is a key challenge for man-made materials. Here we show that a simple confined self-assembly process leads to a complex hierarchical geometry which displays a surprising variety of optical effects. Colloidal crystallization in an emulsion droplet creates micron-sized superstructures, termed photonic balls. The curvature imposed by the emulsion droplet leads to frustrated crystallization, resulting in spherical colloidal crystals with ordered, crystalline layers and a disordered core. This geometry produces multiple optical effects. The ordered layers give rise to Bragg diffraction that is strongly influenced by the curvature, leading to limited angular dependence of color and cut-off in transmitted light. The disordered core contributes non-resonant scattering that induces a macroscopically whitish appearance, which we can mitigate by incorporating absorbing gold nanoparticles that suppress scattering and macroscopically purify the color. With increasing size of the constituent colloidal particles, grating diffraction effects dominate, which result from order along the crystal's curved surface and induce a vivid polychromatic appearance. The control of the multiple optical effects induced by the hierarchical morphology in photonic balls paves the way to employ them as building blocks for complex optical assemblies ? potentially as more efficient mimics of structural color as it occurs in nature. |
| July 23, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tim Still, University of Pennsylvania 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Since the first synthesis of colloidal poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) particles by Pelton in 1986, stimuli-responsive colloidal hydrogels have become extremely versatile model systems to study a plethora of physical phenomena, including phase transitions, glass physics, and photonic materials. In this talk, I will first discuss some properties of temperature-responsive PNIPAM particles and how these properties depend on the synthesis scheme. The second part of the talk focuses on studies that employ such PNIPAM particles to investigate the liquid-solid transition as a function of packing fraction via rheology and microscopy. The relations between the glass transition and jamming physics will be elucidated. In a similar manner, microscopy allows us to measure phonons in soft colloidal crystals and glasses, and an analysis based on jamming theory enables us to estimate inter-particle friction between PNIPAM particles. |
| July 20-22, 2014 | 7th Annual Future Faculty Workshop MIT (Co-sponsored by the NSF MRSECs at MIT (CMSE) and Harvard University) |
| July 16, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jian Qin, University of Chicago 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Linear polymers are flexible chain molecules containing many chemical repeat units. The motion of individual polymers in a dense polymer liquid (molten plastic) is severely constrained by surrounding chains, and by the fact that chains cannot cut through one another. Effectively, polymers may be considered as being confined inside a tube-like region. The tube diameter, or the entanglement length, is the key parameter needed by the standard molecular theory for polymer rheology. But a molecular understanding of the origin of the tube diameter is still lacking. We approach this problem by closing polymers into rings, in order to obtain a system with well-defined, permanent topology, and using tools from the mathematical theory of knots to identify and count topological entanglements. For simulated polymer melts, this approach enables us to get a tube diameter value that is based on topological considerations alone, and that agrees with values obtained by more heuristic methods. We use this approach to study the effects of chain flexibility and addition of diluents upon the tube diameter. |
| July 9, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Michael Murrell, University of Wisconsin 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Mechanical forces generated by cells modulate global shape changes required for essential life processes, such as polarization, division and spreading. The shape of the cell is governed primarily by a network of entangled polymers attached to the inside of the cell membrane ("cytoskeleton"). This polymer network is pushed out of equilibrium by motor proteins which convert chemical energy in the form of ATP into mechanical work, gripping and contracting the network. Thus, the interaction between the cytoskeleton, motor proteins, and the cell membrane are known to mediate the myriad changes in cell shape through mechanical force production, although little is understood regarding the mechanism as cells are complex with many components and regulatory processes. To reduce this complexity, I engineer simplified versions of the cellular machinery from the "bottom-up", building it piece by piece with reconstituted proteins and synthetic membranes. With this approach, I can recapitulate various aspects of the mechanical behavior of cells devoid of cellular regulation. I will present two such examples. First, I will present how a "biomimetic" non-muscle cell can actively generate forces within a disordered cytoskeleton via motor protein activity. Second, I will present an alternative method for generating equivalent forces independent of the cytoskeleton and the consumption of ATP, which relies on the ability of membranes to harvest adhesion energy and alter the hydrostatic pressure of the cell, thereby exerting forces on its surroundings. |
| July 2, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Renko de Vries, Wageningen UR 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Virus particles are highly effective vehicles to deliver genetic material into susceptible host cells. A necessary condition highlighted by theoretical models for the successful formation of infective virus particles is precisely tuned co-operativity of the self-assembly process. There have been many attempts to construct self-assembling virus-like particles but to date the key property of cooperativity has not been explicitly incorporated in any design of artificial viruses. Here we show the rational design of a minimal viral coat protein based on three simple polypeptide domains which do feature precise control over the co-operativity of its co-assembly with single DNA molecules into rod-shaped virus-like-particles (VLPs). We use polypeptide domains that previously we have used for a range of hydrogel-forming polypeptides, and which are inspired by natural structural proteins such as silks and collagens. The triblock polypeptides are produced by secreted expression in the yeast Pichia Pastoris. We confirm the validity of our design principles by showing that the kinetics of self-assembly of our VLPs follows our previous model for Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) assembly. Mature VLPs protect DNA against enzymatic degradation and transfect cells with considerable efficiency, making them promising scaffolds for delivery vehicles. Being biosynthetic and protein-based, our design also paves the way for developing viruses that are completely artificial and yet can replicate in a cellular host. |
| June 27, 2014 | 59th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Cabot Business & Technology Center, Billerica, MA |
| June 18, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Anupam Sengupta, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Liquid crystals (LCs) are complex anisotropic fluids, well-known for display applications. Their properties are in contrast to the isotropic fluids which we typically employ for state-of-the-art microfluidic science and technology. The tunable anisotropy allows us to explore LCs as an inherently functional material for microfluidics that harnesses the coupling between the flow, the molecular orientation, and the spontaneous ordering or topology of the system. A feature which is particularly promising for future applications is that topological defects in liquid crystals can serve as soft rails for colloidal particles, aqueous droplets or other microfluidic cargo. At a more fundamental level, hydrodynamic stagnations leading to topological singularities, provide a rich platform to study the dynamics between singularities of distinct genesis. We shall discuss suggestive experiments to understand these interactions, and conclude the talk with a perspective view on the emerging area of Topological Microfluidics. |
| June 11, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Daphne Klotsa, Michigan 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: The densest way to pack objects in space, also known as the packing problem, has intrigued scientists and philosophers for millenia. Today, packing comes up in various systems over many length scales from batteries and catalysts to the self-assembly of nanoparticles, colloids and biomolecules. Despite the fact that so many systems' properties depend on the packing of differently-shaped components, we still have no general understanding of how packing varies as a function of particle shape. Here we carry out an exhaustive study of how packing depends on shape by investigating the packings of over 55,000 polyhedra. By combining simulations and analytic calculations, we study families of polyhedra interpolating between Platonic and Archimedean solids such as the tetrahedron, the cube, and the octahedron, via continuous vertex and edge truncations. We find maximum packing-density surfaces that reveal unexpected richness and complexity. We expect our density surface plots to guide experiments that utilize shape and packing in a similar way that phase diagrams are used to do chemistry. Our findings demonstrate the importance of thinking about a shape no longer as a static property but rather as but one point in a higher dimensional "shape space" where the neighborhood around the given shape, as achieved by small deformations, needs to be taken into account as it may reveal why we can assemble certain crystals, transition between them, or get stuck in kinetic traps. |
| June 4, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Hideyuki Arata, Nagoya University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: I would like to talk about our recent study on plant-on-a-chip microsystem for quantitative analysis of pollen tube guidance, which is a key mechanism in plant reproduction and seed development. A new pollen tube growth assay using microchannel-system was proposed to perform guidance assay and to analyze pollen tube growth. Various types of microsystems have been developed to perform real-time observation of pollen tube guidance by the signaling molecule released from female tissues. This study enabled by microsystem might lead us to the systematic understanding of complex in vivo mechanisms about "how a female tissue call a pollen tube" and elucidate important knowledge for understanding cell-cell communication, one of the most important topics in the next generation of biology. Affiliations and titles: Group Leader, Nano-Engineering Group, JST-ERATO Higashiyama Live-Holonics Project/Designated Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Japan/Visiting Scholar, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University |
| May 28, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alfredo Alexander-Katz, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Friction is at the core of almost every locomotion strategy used in the natural world, from nanomotors to complete organisms. In this presentation, I will talk about our work on exploiting friction between colloids and surfaces to create microscopic walkers, or more shortly, microwalkers. These active systems are chains of superparamagnetic beads that are magnetically self-assembled, and they can break since there are no permanent bonds holding the colloids together. Upon rotation of the magnetic field, these chains start to rotate. In the vicinity of an interface, rotational and translational degrees of freedom become coupled through friction, and the microwalkers start to walk on these surfaces. During this talk, I will show how such chains display several regimes of motion depending on the strength of the magnetic field and the rotational frequency. When many of these chains walk together on a surface, large fluid flows develop and the magnitude of such flows is intimately related to the microscopic details of the chains, as will be shown. Finally, I will finalize with the case of inhomogeneous friction environments, where it is possible to create Tribotaxis. This phenomenon is the process by which microwalkers can find regions of high mobility while performing a random walk. In this particular case, we have created such friction gradients by spatially modulating the density of complementary receptors, so these microwalkers are also performing chemotaxis. |
| May 21, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Paul Blainey, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Many proteins are known to be capable of thermally-driven motion along DNA, a protein activity thought to play a role in these proteins" ability to locate targets within DNA. We recently described the first case where this activity is utilized to mediate reactions among adenoviral proteins on DNA rather than search for DNA loci. The 11 amino acid viral peptide pVIc that stimulates these reactions itself has a capability for thermally activated sliding along DNA, recasting presumed requirements for DNA-templated biomolecule transport. The existence of such "molecular sleds" has broad implications for natural biochemical processes and applications in biotechnology. |
| May 14, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Rui Ni, Yale University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Midges are small flying insects that closely resemble mosquitoes. Male midges can form large swarm to attract the females and mate. This emergent behavior is a classical example of dynamical self-organization, which is usually characterized with simple models without considering the biological interaction between individuals. In this talk, I will present two experiments to understand biological behaviors of midges. In the first experiment, we use time-frequency analysis of midges' trajectories to demonstrate that the high-frequency motion of the midges may be associated to their biological goal to determine the identities of neighbors. In addition, since the familiar buzz of flying midges is an important social signal, we also use externally played male and female midge's sound to test the response of the swarm. Although individual midge does not follow the sound exactly, there is a very clear population level response. Our results suggest that properly accounting for biological behavior is necessary for accurately modeling collective animal motion. |
| May 7, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kobi Barkan, Tel Aviv University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: A large number of soft-matter systems, whose building blocks range in size from several nanometers to almost a micron, have been shown in recent years to form ordered phases with dodecagonal (12-fold) symmetry (for a recent review see [1]). Contrary to metallurgic quasicrystals, whose source of stability remains a question of great debate to this day, we show that the stability of certain soft-matter quasicrystals "interacting via pair potentials with repulsive cores, which are either bounded or only slowly diverging" can directly be explained. Their stability is attributed to the existence of two natural length scales in their isotropic pair potentials, along with an effective three-body interaction arising from entropy. We establish the validity of this mechanism at the level of a mean-field theory [2], and then use molecular dynamics simulations in two dimensions to confirm it beyond mean field, and to show that it leads to the formation of cluster crystals [3]. We demonstrate that our understanding of the stability mechanism allows us to generate a variety of desired structures, including decagonal and dodecagonal quasicrystals, suggesting a practical approach for their controlled self-assembly in laboratory realizations using synthesized soft-matter particles. We also apply similar principles to the design of pair potentials for controlling the self-assembly of multi-component systems and verify that our design principles indeed work using numerical simulations.
|
| April 30, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alain Karma, Northeastern 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: The bulk of heart tissue consists of excitable cells that fire an action potential in a perfectly predictable and orderly fashion when they receive a sufficient current stimulus from their neighboring cells. However, under pathological conditions, some heart cells can also fire an action potential in a seemingly random way without currents from their neighbors, acting transiently or for long periods of time as local pacemakers. This rogue behavior is believed to underlie several life-threatening inherited and acquired heart rhythm disorders (triggered arrhythmias) but remains poorly understood. This talk will discuss progress to understand the origin of stochasticity underlying this rogue behavior from both biological and nonlinear dynamics viewpoints. |
| April 23, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ken Kamrin, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Despite the ubiquity of granular matter in the world around us, the challenge of predicting the motion of a collection of flowing grains has proven to be a difficult one, from both computational and theoretical perspectives. In this talk, we begin by presenting a number of the "unusual" behaviors exhibited by dry granular media, which have posed hurdles from the perspective of developing a continuum model. These behaviors include: steady-flow fields that do not obey any local flow rheology, flow onset and stoppage phenomena that do not abide by a standard yield stress, and the motion-induced "quicksand" effect whereby far-away motion changes the flow resistance everywhere. We then proceed to develop a non-local constitutive relation for granular matter, and demonstrate how the model is capable of reconciling these various phenomena in a general manner. This is achieved by comparing its predictions to hundreds of existing experimental data sets, which elucidate the aforementioned behaviors. |
| April 16, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wonho Jhe, Seoul National University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Liquid exhibits unique peculiarities at the nanoscale compared with bulk liquid, similarly to the case of solid. I will discuss abnormal dynamic as well as mechanical properties of both nanofilm and nanobridge of water. |
| April 9, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeffrey Guasto, Tufts University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Motile bacteria play integral roles in biophysical processes ranging from biogeochemical cycling in the oceans to the spread of infections in the human body. Their ability to seek out nutrients and chemical signals for survival is conferred through swimming using long, thin, actuated flagella. However, these processes can be disrupted by the ubiquitously dynamic fluid environments in which they live. In this seminar, we will discuss microfluidic experiments using video microscopy to uncover transport mechanisms that lead to bacterial unmixing in flowing fluids. In particular, hydrodynamic shear produces striking spatial heterogeneity in suspensions of motile bacteria, characterized by up to 70% cell depletion from low-shear regions due to cell 'trapping' in high-shear regions. A Langevin model reveals that trapping arises from the competition between the alignment of elongated bacteria with the flow and the stochasticity in their swimming orientation. Finally, we show that shear-induced trapping directly impacts bacterial survival strategies, suppressing chemotaxis by hampering directional motility and more than doubling surface attachment by increasing the transport of bacteria towards surfaces. |
| April 3, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Esther Amstad, Harvard SEAS 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: The usefulness of many hydrophobic substances is limited by their poor solubility in water; this restricts their applicability for example in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and food industry. The dissolution kinetics can be increased if they are formulated as nanoparticles as it scales with the surface-to-volume ratio. The dissolution kinetics can be increased even more if these substances are formulated as amorphous nanoparticles as the amorphous phase has a higher solubility than the crystal; amorphous substances thus dissolve faster and in higher quantities. However, many materials have a high propensity to crystallize as this is the energetically most favorable state; it is thus difficult to make these materials amorphous. I will present a microfluidic spray drier, we call it a microfluidic nebulator that produces unprecedentedly small nanoparticles that are amorphous. Nanoparticles are produced in small drops that are formed inside the nebulator through the use of supersonic air. The nanoparticle size is determined by the number of solute molecules contained in the drop. The nanoparticle structure is determined by the probability for a crystalline nucleus to form as the drop evaporates; this probability is typically very high in supersaturated solutions as crystalline solids readily form under these conditions. However, the formation of a crystalline nucleus itself entails some time delay. We demonstrate that the nebulator can kinetically suppress the formation of crystalline nuclei; thereby, it produces amorphous nanoparticles from many different materials, even from materials that have a very high propensity to crystallize. |
| March 26, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Igor Sokolov, Tufts 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is probably one of the major tools responsible for the emergence of what is now called Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. We observe a tremendous proliferation of AFM applications in the fields of soft condensed matter, materials science, chemistry, bioengineering, and nanotechnology. AFM has a particular advantage in dealing with biological objects, soft condensed matter in general, where the ability to image objects in their natural environment is paramount. In this talk I will briefly overview the basic principles of the AFM work, and show examples of applications of this technique in soft condensed matter physics, from single molecules and polymers to cells (and if time permits, the study of small creatures, like beetles). Specifically, I will describe what information can be obtained when the AFM probes squiring soft objects, in the study of molecular self-assembly, immunorecognition, mechanics of cells, etc. Biography: Igor Sokolov received his B.S. in Physics from St. Petersburg State University (Russian Harvard), Russia in 1984, and earned his Ph.D. from D.I. Mendeleev Institute for Metrology (similar to NIST), Russia in 1991. He is a professor and the Bernard M. Gordon Senior Faculty Fellow in the Departments of Mechanical, Biomedical Engineering, Physics of Tufts University. He has 135 refereed publications, more than 20 patents issued and pending, 100+ invited and 100+ contributed presentations. He serves as an editorial board member in a number of journals. Igor?s current research focuses on nanomechanics of soft materials, nanophotonics (fluorescence and sensing), nanocomposite materials, early detection of cancer, etc. |
| March 19, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Susmita Bose, Washington State University 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: There are an estimated one million bone grafting procedures performed annually in the U.S. and a few million worldwide to repair fractures, craniomaxillofacial defects, bone defects, tumors, as well as hip and knee replacements. Increase in the number of procedures is strongly tied to the increase in musculoskeletal disorder, aging population segment and sports related injuries. World dental implant and bone graft market could top $6 billion by 2014, and hip and knee implants market to reach $21 Billion by 2016. Calcium phosphate (CaP) ceramic being compositionally similar to the inorganic part of bone, show significant promise towards drug delivery and bone graft applications. We have used CaP scaffolds, fabricated using 3-D printing technology, for bone tissue engineering. Dopant chemistry in CaP plays a vital role in controlling their resorption or degradation kinetics as scaffolds, mechanical strength, and biological properties of resorbable CaPs. 3D interconnected channels in CaP scaffolds provide pathways for micronutrients, improved cell-material interactions, and increased surface area allows improved mechanical interlocking between scaffolds and surrounding bone. In vivo studies show improved osteogenesis and angiogenesis with these 3D printed scaffolds. These systems with controlled strength degradation and drug release, show promise for use in orthopedic and bone tissue engineering applications. Our study on doped CaP coated metal implants shows enhanced in vitro cell material interactions and improved osseointegration in vivo. We have used induction plasma spray system to coat metal implants to improve coating interfacial strength and antibacterial properties while showing effect of dopants on osteoblast and osteoclast cell performance. The presentation will include recent scientific and technological advances towards developing next generation ceramics, composites and scaffolds for bone implants and drug delivery. Biography: Susmita Bose is a Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, an affiliate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Washington State University (WSU). Dr. Bose received the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (PECASE, the highest honor given to a young scientist by the US President at the White House) award in 2004 from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Bose was named as a ?Kavli fellow? by the National Academy of the Sciences. In 2009, she received the prestigious Schwartzwalder-Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering (PACE) Award from the American Ceramic Society, which is an international award given to one scientist annually below the age of 41. Dr. Bose is an editorial board member for five different international journals including Acta Biomaterialia and Journal of the American Ceramic Society (Associate Editor). Dr. Bose has published over 200 technical papers with ~ 4400 citations, ?h? index 37. Dr. Bose is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). |
| March 12, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Qi Wen, WPI 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Tissue cells can sense and respond to both physical and biochemical signals. It has been demonstrated that mechanical stiffness and topographical features of the extra cellular matrix (ECM) can affect cellular function including migration, proliferation and gene expression. In a real tissue, the ECM mechanical properties are often coupled with its the micro- and nano structure and hence the nanotopography. I will discuss the synergistic effects of topography and mechanical stiffness on cytoskeletal stiffness and morphology of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts cultured on polydimethysloxane (PDMS) surfaces with different stiffness and surface roughness. By characterizing cell-ECM adhesions on the single molecular level, we try to elucidate how stiffness and nanotopography regulate cellular function. We hope this study on cell-ECM interactions will provide insights to guide the design of materials for tissue engineering and hopefully the mechanism of tumor formation and metastasis. |
| March 5, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Andrejs Cebers, University of Latvia 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Magnetotactic bacteria are microorganisms which use chains of magnetic nanoparticles (magnetosomes) to navigate in the magnetic field of the Earth. Their behavior in magnetic fields of different configurations will be described. As the simplest case the transition from a synchronous to a non-synchronous regime of a non-motile bacterium in a rotating field will be considered. Thermal fluctuations near the threshold of the non-synchronous regime cause the phase lag slips. Trajectories of motile magnetic bacteria under the action of a rotating magnetic field will be described. They are circles in the synchronous regime and complex curves in the non-synchronous. Experimental results of their study will be demonstrated. The random switching of rotary motors of a bacterium leads to peculiar diffusion process of curvature centers of its trajectory. The results of analytical and numerical calculations of the diffusion coefficient of this random process will be given and compared with experimental results. An interesting phenomenon noticed during the experiments in a rotating magnetic field is splitting of the chains of magnetosomes during division of bacterium now studied in detail by several groups. Magnetotactic bacteria are anaeorobic. This is illustrated by a band formation in a constant magnetic field along the axis of capillary where the oxygen gradient is created. The model of this phenomenon will be described. Finally some phenomena with flexible filaments of ferromagnetic particles which mimic the chains of magnetosomes are demonstrated behavior of flexible ferromagnetic filament at magnetic field inversion, its self-propulsion driven by an AC magnetic field and other. |
| February 28, 2014 | 58th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at MIT |
| February 26, 2014 | SEED Pierce Hall 100F |
| February 19, 2014 | IRG II McKay 402 |
| February 19, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Justin Burton, Emory University Abstract: Accelerated warming in the past few decades has led to an increase in dramatic, singular mass loss events from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, such as the catastrophic collapse of ice shelves on the western antarctic peninsula, and the calving and subsequent capsize of cubic-kilometer scale icebergs in Greenland's outlet glaciers. The latter has been identified as the source of long-period seismic events classified as glacial earthquakes, which occur most frequently in Greenland's summer months. The ability to partially monitor polar mass loss through the Global Seismographic Network is quite attractive, yet this goal necessitates an accurate model of a source mechanism for glacial earthquakes. In addition, the detailed relationship between iceberg mass, geometry, and the measured seismic signal is complicated by inherent difficulties in collecting field data from remote, ice-choked fjords. To address this, we use a laboratory scale model to measure aspects of the post-fracture calving process not observable in nature. Our results show that the combination of mechanical contact forces and hydrodynamic pressure forces generated by the capsize of an iceberg adjacent to a glacier's terminus produces a dipolar strain which is reminiscent of a single couple seismic source. |
| February 13, 2014 | IRG III Pierce Hall 100F |
| February 12, 2014 | IRG I Pierce 309 |
| February 5, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alfredo Alexander-Katz, MIT 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Nature has devised creative and efficient ways of solving complex problems, and one of these problems is that of blood clotting in flowing conditions. In fact, nature has used a novel combination of polymer physics and chemistry that enhances the self-healing propensity of a vessel when strong flows are present while avoiding coagulation when the flow is diminished, a rather counter-intuitive phenomenon. Underlying this process is a globular biopolymer, the so-called von Willebrand Factor, whose function is strongly regulated by flow. In this talk I will present our work on this macromolecule starting from the single molecule approach and building up to the multi component system that more closely resembles blood. I will emphasize how new concepts have emerged from trying to understand such a complex system, in particular I will show how these polymers can display giant non-monotonic response to shear, as well as a very large propensity to form polymer-colloid composites in flow while being a stable dispersed suspension in quiescent conditions. In fact, the aggregation behavior is universal and can be explained with simple scaling arguments. These novel concepts and results are in principle not unique to blood clotting and can have important ramifications in other areas. |
| January 29, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Maria Kilfoil, UMass Amherst 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: In this talk I will present direct measurements of fluctuations in the nucleus of yeast cells. While prior work has shown these fluctuations to be active and non-thermal in character, their origin and time dependence are not understood. We show that nuclear fluctuations can be quantitatively understood by uncorrelated, active force fluctuations driving a nuclear medium that is dominated by an uncondensed DNA solution, for which we perform rheological measurements on an in vitro model system under similar conditions to what is expected in the nucleus. We conclude that the eukaryotic nucleus of living cells is a nonequilibrium soft material whose fluctuations are actively driven, and are far from thermal in their time dependence. I will also introduce a new in vitro system we developed to study active processes in the nuclear microenvironment. |
| January 22, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Randall Erb, Harvard 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: Recently, we have found an ultra-high magnetic response in stiff anisotropic particles by adsorbing nominal amounts of magnetite nanoparticles onto the surface of the particle [1]. This modification allows for the remote control of particle orientation and spatial positioning under magnetic fields only an order of magnitude larger than the Earth?s magnetic field. This level of control, among numerous exciting possibilities, can lead to the positioning of particle reinforcement in manmade materials that mimics the structures found in natural systems such as seashells or mammalian bone. We have developed an energy model for these particle suspensions that explain this ultra-high response and suggest the key parameters essential in these systems. To help validate these parameters, we consider an idealized system and analyze the dynamic response of isolated platelets under magnetic fields. We find that using theoretical Perrin friction factors, originally developed to describe rotational drag for anisotropic molecules, we can precisely predict the interplay between magnetic, viscous and gravitational torques on these particles. We extend our model to describe the alignment of the platelets second major axis under rotating magnetic fields. We have found a relationship between the viscosity of the suspension and the critical frequency required to change from "rolling" to "fully-aligned" modes. We use these techniques to create a family of advanced materials exhibiting 3-d reinforcements, spatial gradients, and various deliberate alignments. These composites exhibit the 3-D reinforced biological structures predicted to have enhanced material properties, such as higher stiffness and "wear-free" characteristics. This manipulation technique further enables fabrication of a diverse family of reinforced hydrogels. These systems have structures and anisotropic swelling that mimics natural systems [2]. These include hydrogels with the following: 1) in-plane reinforcement leading to swelling with high anisotropy (*plant stems*); 2) simple bilayer reinforcement leading to curled swelling (*pinecones*); 3) orientationally unique bilayers that swell into helical configurations (*orchid tree seed pods*). This work offers a way forward in recreating these defined reinforcement architectures within manufactured polymers. [1] R. M. Erb, R. L. Libanori, N. Rothfuchs, A. R. Studart, Science, *335*, 199-204, 2012. [2] R. M. Erb, J. Sanders, R. Grish, A. R. Studart, Nature Communications, *4*, 1712, 2013. |
| January 15, 2014 | Squishy Physics Seminar Andrej Kosmrlj, Harvard 5:30pm | 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge Abstract: In this talk I present how geometrical shape affects the mechanical properties of thin solid membranes and how buckling instabilities change the geometry of periodic microstructures in materials. Using methods rooted in statistical physics, we find that random shape fluctuations and thermal excitations of thin solid membranes significantly modify their mechanical properties. Such membranes are much harder to bend, but easier to stretch, compress and shear. Finally, I show how methods from solid state physics can help us deduce the geometry of buckled periodic microstructures. Buckling instabilities can change the microstructure symmetries, including a spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, which drastically modifies the material properties. |
| December 13, 2013 | 57th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Boston University |
| December 11, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Manis Chaudhuri, Harvard University Abstract: Dusty plasmas consist of ions, electrons, highly charged microparticles and neutral gas. It is considered as the plasma state of soft matter where the "molecular" components (electrons and ions) is gaseous, whereas "supramolecular" component (dust particles) can form solid, liquid, and gaseous states depending on the relative strengths between interparticle interaction and kinetic energy, in an analogous way to regular matter. The microparticles are large enough to be visualized individually, which allow experimental investigations with high temporal (~ Hz) and spatial resolution (~ microns). Hence, dusty plasma is used as a valuable model system to investigate various phenomena (e.g, phase transitions, self-organizations, waves, transport, etc.) at the most fundamental kinetic level. In this presentation I shall discuss the ongoing experimental dusty plasma research activities both under gravity and microgravity conditions. |
| December 9, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series America's Test Kitchen: Jack Bishop, Editorial Director at Cook's Illustrated and an Editor on The Science of Good Cooking; Dan Souza, Senior Editor of Cook's Illustrated The Accidental Chemist Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| December 4, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mark W. Grinstaff, Boston University Abstract: Nanoparticle drug delivery systems afford researchers the ability to increase drug solubility, alter pharmacokinetics, target specific locations in the body, provide controlled release of a drug and thereby improve drug efficacy while limiting systemic side effects. We have developed unique pH-responsive drug-loaded expansile nanoparticles (eNPs) that localize to tumors, traffic through the lymphatic system, swell to release drug once inside the cell, and provide a depot for prolong exposure of the cell to the drug. In this presentation, I will discuss the mechanism of action and performance of paclitaxel loaded eNPs in several cancer models including intraperitoneal mesothelioma. The synthesis of the eNPs is described first followed by several particle characterization techniques, including qNano, DLS, SEM, and TEM that measure particle size as a function of pH and swelling time. We next quantify the unique ability of drug-loaded eNPs to act as drug depots for paclitaxel within the cell as well as eNPs to enter the cell via macropinocytosis as confirmed by confocal microscopy and flow cytometry studies using temperature-sensitive metabolic reduction, pharmacologic inhibitors, and fluid-phase marker co-localization. And, finally, we demonstrate, in vivo, the improved performance of paclitaxel when delivered using the eNPs compared to cremophor/ethanol, the current standard of care, in murine mesothelioma models. References: 1) A.P. Griset, J. Walpole, R. Liu, A. Gaffey, Y. L. Colson and M. W. Grinstaff, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 2469-2471 2) Y.L. Colson, and M. W. Grinstaff, Adv. Mater. 2012, 24, 3878-3886 3) M.D. Schulz, O. K. Khullar, J. V. Frangioni, M. W. Grinstaff, and Y. L. Colson, Ann. Thorac. Surg., 2010, 89, S2188-90 4) K.A. Zubris, Y. L. Colson, and M. W. Grinstaff, Mol. Pharm., 2012, 9, 196-200 5) Y.L. Colson, R. Liu, E. B. Southard, M. D. Schulz, J. E. Wade, A. P. Griset, K. A. V. Zubris, R. F. Padera and M. W. Grinstaff, Biomaterials, 2011, 32, 832-840 6) K.A. V. Zubris, O.V. Khullar, A.P. Griset, S. Gibbs-Strauss, J.V. Frangioni, Y.L. Colson, and M.W. Grinstaff, Chem Med Chem., 2010, 5, 1435-1438 7) O.V. Khullar, A. P. Griset, S. L. Gibbs-Strauss, L. R. Chirieac, K. A. V. Zubris, J. V. Frangioni, Y. L. Colson, and M. W. Grinstaff, J. Am. Coll. Surgeons., 2012, 214, 328-337 8) R. Liu, D.M. Gilmore, K.A. V. Zubris, X. Xu, P. J. Catalano, R. F. Padera, M.W. Grinstaff, and Y.L. Colson Biomaterials, 2013, 34, 1810?1819 9) A.H. Colby, Y. L. Colson, and M. W. Grinstaff Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 3496-3504 |
| December 2, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Ferran Adrià, elBulli Foundation Evolution culinary theory Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| November 25, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO; co-founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures; and author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| November 21, 2013 | IRG III McKay 402 |
| November 18, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series David Chang, momofuku Fermentation: When Rotten Goes Right Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| November 13, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar L. Mahadevan, Harvard University Abstract: Sickle cell anemia, the first molecular disease to have its cause delineated, arises from a point mutation in the gene that codes for hemoglobin. The consequence of this mutation is the propensity of sickle-hemoglobin to polymerize at low oxygen tensions, causing a change in the rheology of blood and thence a jamming of capillaries. I will first describe our attempts to interrogate the disease using a minimal microfluidic system that allows us to quantify the pathophysiology of jamming experimentally with some relevance for clinical studies. This also raises a number of interesting theoretical questions and I will conclude with a discussion of some that we are beginning to grapple with. |
| November 12, 2013 | IRG II Pierce 309 |
| November 11, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Wylie Dufresne, wd~50; and Ted Russin, The Culinary Institute of America Catalytic Conversion: Enzymes in the Kitchen Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| November 6, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Doug Chen, Harvard University Abstract: Chirality is an important element of biology, chemistry, and physics. Since Mayer first predicted that tilted, layered liquid crystal phases of chiral molecules are ferroelectric and the discovery of surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal by Clark and Lagerwall, liquid crystal society mainly focused on chiral, rod-like molecules during the 1980s and 1990s. Until ferroelectricity is observed in achiral, bent-core liquid crystal by Niori in 1996, bent-core liquid crystals attract intense interest over the last decade, exhibiting a wide variety of novel structural phenomena manifesting the interplay of molecular bend, molecular tilt and chirality. Generally, the bent-core molecules self-assemble into well-defined smectic layers, while the coupling of macroscopic polarization and tilt of the molecular planes makes the layers chiral, the so call layer chirality. In some cases, these chiral phases form microscopic chiral structures. Two examples, the B4 helical nanofilament phase and the twist bend nematic phase, will be discussed in detail. |
| November 4, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery The Science of Sweets Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| November 1, 2013 | SEED Pierce 100f |
| October 31, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zvonimir Dogic, Brandeis University Colloidal Rafts in Flatland 4:15 pm in Mallinckrodt Chemistry Lab B23 - Pfizer Lecture Hall |
| October 31, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zvonimir Dogic, Brandeis University Zvonimir's website Two recent papers are: "Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter," Tim Sanchez, Daniel T. N. Chen, Stephen J. DeCamp, Michael Heymann, and Zvonimir Dogic, Nature 491, 431-434 (2012) "Reconfigurable Self-Assembly through chiral control of interfacial tension", T. Gibaud, E. Barry, M. Zakhary, M. Henglin, A. Ward, Y. Yang, C. Berciu, R. Oldenbourg, D. Nicastro, R. Meyer and Z. Dogic, Nature 481, 348-351(2012) |
| October 30, 2013 | IRG I McKay 402 |
| October 30, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Daniel Irimia; Massachusetts General Hospital Squeezing Cells in Channels to Measure How Smart Cells Are or How Mechanical Confinement Helps Cancer Cells Navigate through Mazes |
| October 30, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Daniel Irimia, Massachusetts General Hospital Abstract: Invading cancer cells can form distant metastases and are ultimately responsible for 90% of deaths in cancer. Reducing the ability of cancer cells to invade and metastasize could extend the life of cancer patients. However, our current understanding of the conditions that guide the invasion of cancer cells is insufficient and our abilities to interfere with cancer cell invasion are limited. While studying the migration of cancer cells using novel microfluidic tools, we uncovered an unexpected ability of cancer cells to navigate through microscopic mazes along the shortest path. To explain their behavior, we propose a novel mechanism that guides cancer cell migration away from tumors. The mechanism depends on the competition between epidermal growth factor (EGF) uptake by the cells and the restricted diffusion of EGF from surrounding microenvironment to the cells, and enables the cancer cells to generate spatial chemical gradients to which they could respond themselves. Employing this strategy when placed in confined environments, cancer cells can self-generate spatial gradients of EGF and guide their own escape from the confinement. We will discuss these and more recent results, and how this research could eventually lead to new approaches for delaying cancer invasion and metastasis. |
| October 28, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Nandu Jubany, Can Jubany Emulsions: Concepts of Stabilizing Oil & Water Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| October 23, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Aparna Baskaran; Brandeis University Active materials: Soft condensed matter meets biology |
| October 21, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Enric Rovira, Master Chocolatier; and Ruben Alvarez, Master Chocolatier Elasticity Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| October 16, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alok Tayi, Harvard Abstract: Composites are a unique class of materials; they are made of multiple discrete components whereby the resulting material has properties unlike the constituent parts. We rely on these systems every day, like rebar-reinforced concrete or wood laminates, however, such conventional materials have several limitations: once cast they are difficult to change, once broken they are difficult to repair, and once formed they cannot conform dynamically to different objects. We are designing new class of composites that are inherently adaptable. The materials can hold different shapes, be repaired easily, and change their mechanical properties on command. This suite of capabilities is enabled by two critical implementations: non-covalent interactions and vacuum jamming. The hope is that these new dynamic materials can find use as adaptable armor for protection and temporary structural materials for shelter and transportation. |
| October 14, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Carles Tejedor, Via Veneto Viscosity & Polymers Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| October 9, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Stephan Kohler, Harvard University Resistive Force Theory Locomotion |
| October 16, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Stephan Kohler, Harvard University Abstract: This talk deals with locomotion of undulators in the limit of negligible inertia. Although the main inspiration is low Reynolds number swimming of in-plane undulating filaments, I will also discuss how the same physical principles apply to sand-swimming and side-winding snakes as well as ice-skating. A necessary, but not sufficient criterion for optimal swimming is that the local force components along the direction of motion are zero. This is satisfied by the sawtooth waveform, and J. Lighthill has shown it to be the optimal waveform. I will review traditional performance metrics, which were developed for infinitely-long undulators, and introduce a new metric suitable for optimizing finite-length undulators. In this case there are local performance maxima in the parameter space of actuation strength and wavelength, which are called swimming resonances. Finally, I will propose the optimal waveform for a finite-length filament with constrained curvature, which mimics the sawtooth strategy only to a certain degree. |
| October 7, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Carme Ruscadella, Sant Pau, Sant Pau de Tòquio Playing with Taste through Browning Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| September 30, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series José Andrés, ThinkFood Group, minibar, Jaleo Diffusion & Spherification Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| September 25, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Rob Style; Yale University Wetting and adhesion on squishy surfaces |
| September 24, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Bill Yosses, White House Pastry Chef Elasticity: Dessert = Flavor + Texture Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| September 20, 2013 | 56th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
| September 16, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Jordi Roca, El Celler de Can Roca Sous vide: savory and pastry applications Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| September 11, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shima Parsa; Harvard University Inertial range scaling of rotation rate of rods in turbulence |
| September 9, 2013 | Science and Cooking Lecture Series Dave Arnold, Cooking Issues; and Harold McGee, Curious Cook Science and Cooking Science Center Hall C, 7 p.m. |
| August 28, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kate Jensen, Harvard / University of Amsterdam Structure and defects in hard-sphere colloidal crystals and glasses |
| August 14, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kazem Edmond, Department of Physics, NYU Using colloids to model worm-like micelles |
| August 1, 2013 | Special Applied Mechanics Colloquium Quanshui Zheng; Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing Is Frictionless Realistic? |
| July 31, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Doug Kelley, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester Feeling your neighbors: Lagrangian methods for quantifying collective motion |
| July 24, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ian Y. Wong, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Emergent Dynamics of Malignant Cancer Invasion after the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition |
| July 19, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Elizabeth J. Stewart, John G. Younger, Michael J. Solomon; University of Michigan Environmental stress induces changes in colloidal microstructure of bacterial biofilms 2:30 PM, LISE 311 |
| July 17, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Dambarudhar Mohanta; Tezpur University and Harvard University From quantum dots to nanorods and perovskite nanostructures: Prospects and challenges 5:30pm in the 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge |
| July 10, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jasper Foolen, Christine Obbink-Huizer, Frank Baaijens; Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology From quantum dots to nanorods and perovskite nanostructures: Prospects and challenges 5:30pm in the 2nd floor Maxwell Dworkin Lounge |
| July 10, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tim Sanchez; Harvard Engineering self-organization in cytoskeletal mixtures: biomimetics and active materials |
| June 26, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Benny Davidovitch; UMass Amherst The morphology of adhesive films on curved topographies: wrinkles, crumples, blisters, and crystalline scars |
| June 19, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tom de Greef; Eindhoven University of Technology One-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Organic Nanofibers |
| June 12, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chuanhua Duan; Boston University Enhanced Ion and Molecule Transport in Nanochannels: Fundamentals and Applications |
| June 10, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chuanhua Duan; Boston University Enhanced Ion and Molecule Transport in Nanochannels: Fundamentals and Applications |
| June 7, 2013 | 55th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at UMass Amherst |
| May 31, 2013 | Special FAS Seminar Engineering and Physical Biology PhD Track program Looking at living systems through the lens of physics and engineering |
| May 29, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Liheng Cai; SEAS, Harvard Airway Surface Brush Keeps the Lung Healthy |
| May 22, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ofer Feinerman; Weizmann Institute of Science Fighting noise with limited resources: an ant colony perspective |
| May 15, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Christian Santangelo; Department of Physics and Astronomy, UMass Amherst Origami Shapes and Mechanics |
| May 1, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Cristian Staii; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University Cytoskeletal dynamics of living neurons measured by combined fluorescence and atomic force microscopy |
| April 17, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Markus J. Buehler, MIT Pulling and squeezing squishy silk |
| April 10, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Arpita Upadhyaya; University of Maryland Forcing it on: cytoskeletal dynamics during lymphocyte activation |
| April 3, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Catherine K. Kuo; Tufts University Engineering the Mechanical Microenvironment of Embryonic Tendon |
| March 27, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Moritz Kreysing; University of Munich Optics of the retina |
| March 15, 2013 | 54th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Yale University |
| February 27, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Peter Yunker (Weitz lab); Harvard Effects of Particle Shape on Evaporating Drops of Colloidal Suspensions: From Uniform Coatings to Universal Growth Processes |
| February 20, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shiladitya Banerjee; (Marchetti lab) Syracuse Interplay of Geometry and Mechanics in 2D cell-matrix adhesions |
| February 13, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Fiorenzo Omenetto; Tufts University Silk-based electronics and photonics |
| February 6, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zhigang Suo; SEAS, Harvard University Extremely stretchable and tough hydrogels |
| January 18, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mansoor M. Amiji, PhD; Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Northeastern University Translational Cancer Nanomedicine: from diagnostic imaging to targeted therapies 2:00 pm, 29 Oxford Street, Pierce Hall, Room 209 |
| January 9, 2013 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roy Ziblat; Weitzlab, SEAS, Harvard University When Does a Squishy Membrane Becomes a Lethal Crystal? X-Ray Diffraction Studies on Lipid Membranes |
| December 12, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ian Morrison; Harvard University Contact angles on the unobservable |
| December 5, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Aaron F. Mertz; Yale University Collective Mechanics of Epithelial Cell Colonies |
| November 30, 2012 | 53rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| November 28, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jonathan Thon; Harvard Medical School Proplatelet Production and Platelet Release |
| November 14, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chris Love; MIT Get more from your single cells |
| November 7, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Daosheng Deng (Bazant Lab); MIT Overlimiting Current and Shock Electrodialysis in Porous Media |
| November 3, 2012 | New England Workshop on the Mechanics of Materials and Structures at Brown University |
| November 1, 2012 | Congratulations to MRSEC faculty member Vinothan Manoharan for his recent tenure promotion. |
| October 24, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Karen Alim; SEAS, Harvard Optimizing transport in the vein network of Physarum polycephalum |
| October 10, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roman Stocker, MIT Flagellar buckling and rheotaxis in bacteria |
| October 8, 2012 | External Advisory Meeting Pearce 213 |
| October 3, 2012 | Seed Project McKay 300 |
| October 3, 2012 | IRG II McKay 402 |
| October 2, 2012 | IRG II MDG 25 |
| September 26, 2012 | IRG I MDG 135 |
| September 26, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ashutosh Agarwal, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering; SEAS, Harvard University Organomimetic Models of Cardiovascular Muscle on a Chip |
| September 24, 2012 | External Advisory Committee Conference Call |
| September 21, 2012 | 52nd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| September 19, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jean-Jacques Slotine; MIT Synchronization, controllability, and composability in complex networks |
| September 15, 2012 | IRG III Pearce 320 |
| September 15, 2012 | IRG I Pearce 100F |
| September 14, 2012 | IRG II & Seed Projects Pearce 213 |
| September 12, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Howon Lee (Fang lab); MIT 3D micro manufacturing of soft materials: from plant motions to active micro devices |
| September 5, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar H. Burak Eral; Chemical Engineering Dept, MIT Soft Matter under External Control |
| August 29, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Polina Anikeeva; MIT Optoelectronics for Neural Recording and Stimulation |
| August 8, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sebastian Seiffert; Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Soft Matter and Functional Materials and FU Berlin, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry Small but smart: Sensitive and supramolecular microgels |
| July 25, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Warren Ruder; Biological Systems Engineering; Virginia Tech Engineered polymer microenvironments for probing Ca2+ mechanotrandsuction using dorsal cell adhesion |
| July 25, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Warren Ruder; Biological Systems Engineering; Virginia Tech Engineered polymer microenvironments for probing Ca2+ mechanotrandsuction using dorsal cell adhesion |
| July 18, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vivek Sharma; MIT (McKinley Lab) To bounce or not to bounce: Impact of a viscoelastic drop on dry, textured surface |
| July 18, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop: Tim Miller - feedback on REU multimedia Pierce 301 - 8:30–10:00am |
| July 17, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop Pierce 301 - 8:30–10:00am |
| July 11, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Irep Gozen; Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory; Chalmers University Fractal Avalanche Ruptures In Biological Membranes |
| July 12, 2012 | Writing Workshop 5 8:30–10:00am |
| July 10, 2012 | Research Seminar: Dr. Wynter Duncanson Pierce 209 - 5:00–6:00am |
| July 10, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop Pierce 301 - 8:30–10:00am |
| July 5, 2012 | Writing Workshop 4 8:30–10:00am |
| July 3, 2012 | REU Ethics Seminar: Prof. Eric Mazur Pierce 209 - 5:00–6:30am |
| July 3, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop Pierce 301 - 8:30–10:00am |
| June 28, 2012 | Writing Workshop 3 9:00–10:00am |
| June 27, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Irep Gozen; Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory; Chalmers University Fractal Avalanche Ruptures In Biological Membranes |
| June 27, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Olga Dudko; University of California Single molecules under force: Theory meets experiment |
| June 26, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop Pierce 301 - 9:00–10:00am |
| June 25, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar, 4 PM, Northwest Labs room 425 Ewa Paluch; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics-Germany, and International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology-Poland Actin cortex mechanics and cell shape instabilities in cytokinesis |
| June 22, 2012 | 51st New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Tufts University |
| June 21, 2012 | Fellowship Presentation: Patty Ordonez & Frances Carter 12:00–1:30pm |
| June 21, 2012 | Writing Workshop 2 Pierce 301 - 8:30–10:00am |
| June 19, 2012 | Faculty Seminar: with Professor Marko Loncar Maxwell Dworkin 119 - 5:00–7:00pm |
| June 19, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop 2 Maxwell Dworkin 323 - 9:00–10:00am |
| June 18, 2012 | FIRE Extinguisher Training 3:00–6:00pm |
| June 16, 2012 | STEP UP program REU students leads experiments for elementary school students 8:30am–1:30pm |
| June 15, 2012 | Laser Safety Training Maxwell Dworkin G119 - 1:00–3:00pm |
| June 14, 2012 | Writing Workshop Maxwell Dworkin G119 - 9:00–10:00am |
| June 13, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ullrich Steiner; Department of Physics, University of Cambridge Biological, bio-inspired and biomimetic nano- and micro-structured materials |
| June 12, 2012 | Multimedia Workshop Maxwell Dworkin G119 - 9:00–10:00am |
| June 11, 2012 | General Safety Training Maxwell Dworkin G119 - 9:00–10:30am |
| June 8, 2012 | Noise & Complexity Sumposium |
| June 7, 2012 | Reading Scientific papers Workshop Maxwell Dworkin G115 |
| June 6, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeff Moore; Physiology and Biophysics, Boston University The role of myosin phosphorylation in cardiomyopathy mutation phenotypes |
| June 6, 2012 | REU Maintaining a Lab Notebook Workshop Maxwell Dworkin G115 |
| June 5, 2012 | REU Program Orientation & Project discussion |
| June 4, 2012 | REU Program Begins |
| May 30, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tsvi Tlusty; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University The physics of 2D ensembles of microfluidic droplets |
| May 23, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kaare Hartvig Jensen; Harvard University Design principles of sugar transport systems in plants |
| May 9, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Michael De Volder; Weitz Lab Capillary self-assembly of Carbon Nanotubes into complex 3D structures |
| April 25, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Nisaraporn Suthiwangcharoen (Eve); Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC) Development of polymer-biomolecule core-shell particles for biomedical applications |
| April 18, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kamil L. Ekinci, Mechanical Engineering Department, Boston University Exploring the Limits of Oscillatory Fluid Dynamics: High Frequencies, Confinement and Beyond |
| April 4, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeremy England, Physics Dep. MIT Shape Shifting: the statistical physics of protein conformational change |
| March 28, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sid Redner, Department of Physics, Boston University Fate of the Kinetic Ising Model |
| March 28, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Manfred Wilhelm, Professor Institute for Technical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany New and Combined Methods for the Mechanical Characterization of Materials |
| March 16, 2012 | 53rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Yale University |
| March 14, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Elisha Moses; Physics of Complex Systems; Weizmann Institute of Science Computing with living neuronal networks |
| February 22, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeffrey Karp; Harvard Stem Cell Institute; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Bioengineered Strategies to Control Cell Fate Post Transplantation |
| February 15, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Julien Chopin (Kudrolli lab); Department of Physics; Clark University Building Designed Granular Towers One Drop at a Time |
| February 8, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar SJ. Claire Hur; Rowland Institute at Harvard Target cell identification and enrichment using inertial microfluidics |
| February 1, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Dr. Ho-Young Kim, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea; Visiting Scholar, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University Physics of writing with ink and wrinkling of wet paper |
| January 18, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Allen Ehrlicher (Weitz Lab), Harvard University Molecular mechanotransduction: how forces trigger specific responses in the cytoskeleton |
| January 11, 2012 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tim Atherton, Tufts University Liquid Crystals and Patterned Surfaces |
| December 7, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Michael Henson; Department of Chemical Engineering; UMass Amherst The role of fluctuation theorems in experimental biology |
| December 2, 2011 | 49th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| November 30, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Hassan Masoud (Alexeev lab); Mech Eng; Georgia Tech Polymer Networks: Modeling and Emerging Applications |
| November 16, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Philippe Coussot; Universite Paris-Est, Laboratoire Navier, Champs sur Marne, France "Boundary layer" in yield stress fluids |
| November 15, 2011 | Widely Applied Math (WAM) Seminar Ko Okumura, University of Japan Scaling dynamics of drops and bubbles and simple model of spider webs |
| November 9, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Charles Sykes; Department of Chemistry; Tufts University Turning a single molecule into an electric motor |
| November 2, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar William Shih; Wyss Institute Self-assembled DNA-nanostructure tools for molecular biophysics |
| October 31, 2011 | Special Condensed Matter Seminar Bryan Chen, University of Pennsylvania Seeing and Sculpting Nematic Liquid Crystal Textures with the Thom construction |
| October 26, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alexandra Zidovska (Weitz and Mitchison labs) HMS and SEAS On the Mechanical Stabilization of Filopodia |
| October 19, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Bin Liu (Powers Lab), Brown University Swimming of a model helical flagellum in two types of complex fluid media: a viscoelastic fluid and a porous medium |
| October 12, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Erez Braun, Department of Physics, Technion From Genotype to Phenotype: a physical perspective |
| September 28, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Evelien WM Kemna; (BIOS group), MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, The Netherlands Towards a high-throughput electrofusion platform using droplets: Cell detection and deterministic encapsulation |
| September 23, 2011 | 48th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| September 21, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matt Holden, Chemistry Dept, UMass Amherst Building Biology Drop-by-Drop |
| September 14, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Bulbul Chakraborty, Physics Dept, Brandeis University Fabric of Jamming |
| September 7, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Madhavi Krishnan; Laboratory for Physical Chemistry; ETH Zurich "Force-free" electrostatic trapping, levitation and assembly of nanometric objects in a fluid |
| August 31, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Lindsay Moore (Lab of Erez Braun), Physics Dept, Israel Institute of Technology Heritable changes to network architecture in genetically rewired yeast |
| August 17, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Prof. Roy Kishony (MIT & HMS) Evolution and ecology of antibiotic-resistance |
| August 10, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Yuval Garini Physics Department & Institute of Nanotechnology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Three-dimensional tethered particle motion for force-free measurements of DNA and DNA-protein interactions |
| August 3, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Dhananjay Tambe (Fredberg Lab), School of Public Health, Harvard University Plithotaxis—physical principle of collective cell migration |
| July 27, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Prof. Johan Paulsson, Harvard Medical School Predicting Particle Size Distributions of Homogenized Emulsions and Aggregating Solid Lipid Nanoparticles |
| July 20, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Florian Engert, MCB, Harvard University Whole-brain neural dynamics during rapid motor adaptation in larval zebrafish |
| July 13, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ron Weiss, MIT Synthetic biology: from parts to modules to therapeutic systems |
| July 6, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shalev Itzkovitz, MIT Optimality in the Development of Intestinal Crypts |
| June 3, 2011 | 47th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at UMass Amherst |
| April 13, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vivek B. Shenoy, Brown University TBD |
| April 13, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vivek B. Shenoy, Brown University TBD |
| April 6, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kris Noel Dahl, Carnegie Mellon TBD |
| March 30, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jim J. Collins, Boston University TBD |
| March 23, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar APS March Meeting TBD |
| March 18, 2011 | 46th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Yale University |
| March 16, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kenny Breuer, Brown University TBD |
| March 9, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Bulbul Chakraborty, Brandeis University TBD |
| March 2, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar David Mooney, Harvard University SEAS TBD |
| February 23, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alex Fields, Harvard University SEAS TBD |
| February 9, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Reza Farhadifar, Harvard University SEAS TBD |
| February 2, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeff Gore, MIT TBD |
| January 26, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jacy Bird, MIT TBD |
| January 19, 2011 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tyrone Porter, Boston University Coating microbubbles with lipids: Introducing nonlinearity into a linear system |
| December 15, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Linas Mazutis, Harvard University SEAS Droplet-based microfluidics for directed protein evolution |
| December 8, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Scott Manalis, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Microfluidic measurements of single cell mass reveal how growth and division are coordinated |
| December 3, 2010 | 45th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| December 1, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mahesh Bandi, Harvard University SEAS Formation of a disordered solid from a loose granular pack |
| November 17, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ali Khademhosseini, MIT Microengineered hydrogels for stem cell bioengineering and tissue regeneration |
| November 10, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Arshad Kudrolli, Clark University Collective diffusion of self-propelled rods |
| November 3, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vinny Manoharan, Harvard University SEAS TBD |
| October 27, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Florenct Krzakala, ESPCI Paris On the glass transition as a melting process |
| October 20, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sandra Shefelbine, Imperial College London mechano-adaptation of bone |
| October 13, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sophie Dumont, Harvard Medical School Generating and responding to mechanical force during cell division: the case of the kinetochore |
| October 6, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Dr. Eugene Pashkovski, Unilever American Glassy behavior and rheology of skin Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF) |
| September 29, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sharon Gerbode, Harvard University SEAS Glassy dynamics within a crystal: dislocations in 2-D colloidal crystals of dimer particles |
| September 15, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alfred Crosby, University of Massachusetts Amherst Mechanics within living and synthetic networks |
| September 10, 2011 | 44th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Brandeis University |
| September 8, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zvonimir Dogic, Brandeis University Chiral self-assembly |
| September 1, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vivek Sharma, MIT Soft Matter "Odes": from life and death of viscoelastic jets to structural color of jeweled beetles |
| August 25, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jonathan Celli, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University Mucus rheology and Helicobacter pylori motility |
| August 18, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Arezoo Ardekani, MIT Dynamics of Bead Formation and Breakup in Weakly Viscoelastic Jets |
| August 11, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Herman Offerhaus, University of Twente Vibrational Phase Contrast CARS Imaging |
| August 4, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ophelia Tsui, Boston University The Role Played by the Surface Mobile Layer on the Glass Transition Dynamics of Polymer Films |
| July 28, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ashkan Vaziri, Northeastern University Cross-Disciplinary and Multi-Scale Applications of Shell Deformation |
| July 21, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wesley Wong, Harvard University, The Rowland Institute New approaches in force spectroscopy: from enzyme kinetics to single-molecule centrifugation |
| July 14, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kamal Sen, Boston University Neural discrimination of complex natural sounds in songbirds |
| July 7, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Irwin Adam Eydelnant, University of Toronto Digital Microfluidics for Droplet Biology |
| June 30, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Seth Fraden, Brandeis University Active Emulsions: What are they, and what are they good for? |
| June 23, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Thomas Angelini, Harvard University SEAS Forces in collective cell motion |
| June 16, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Frank Vollmer, Harvard University, The Wyss Institute Optical Microcavities: Probing Molecular and Colloidal Interactions at the Nanoscale |
| June 11, 2010 | 43rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| June 9, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Michael L. Smith, Boston University The mechanical properties of fibronectin fibers dictate their function |
| June 2, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Erel Levine, Harvard University SEAS something new |
| May 26, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Anthony Dinsmore, University of Massachusetts Amherst Particles at Liquid Interfaces: Binding Energies, Curvature Effects, and Applications |
| May 19, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Oleg Krichevsky, Ben-Gurion University DNA as an exemplary polymer |
| May 12, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mark Bathe, MIT TBD |
| April 28, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jongyoon Han, MIT Squishing ions, molecules, and cells: Micro/nanofluidic filters for diagnostics and water purification |
| April 27, 2010 | 2010 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Summer Program application deadline |
| April 22, 2010 | MRSEC Women and Postdoc and Graduate Student Group Lunch with Dean Cherry Murray, Harvard University |
| April 21, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Lambert Ben Freund, Brown University Modeling cell adhesion phenomena observed at different size scales |
| April 14, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jacob Klein, Weizmann Institute of Science Dynamic phases of confined liquids: why water is special |
| April 7, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Katia Bertoldi, Harvard University SEAS The use of instabilities to design materials with tunable properties |
| March 31, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alain Karma, Northeastern University Symmetry-breaking calcium and voltage signaling patterns in heart cells and tissue |
| March 24, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Muhammad H. Zaman, Boston University Cellular decision making in 3D tumor invasion and migration |
| March 5, 2010 | 42nd New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Yale University |
| March 3, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Patrick Alfor, Harvard University SEAS TBD |
| March, 2010 | MRSEC Women and Postdoc and Graduate Student Group Finding an Academic Job Academic job-hunting strategies from professors with experience both as the job-hunter and on search committees, with particular focus on issues arising from the current difficult economic climate. The seminar will be followed by a networking reception. Co-sponsored event with Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering. |
| February 24, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ken Kamrin, Harvard University SEAS Shear flow over arbitrary periodic surfaces |
| February 28, 2010 | 2010 Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Summer Program application deadline |
| February 17, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Lene B. Oddershede, Niels Bohr Institute Center, Denmark 'How tight is a pseudoknot?' |
| February 3, 2010 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ludvig Lizana, PhD Niels Bohr Institute Center for Models of Life Dynamics of Interacting Brownian |
| December 16, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Andrea Camposeo, National Nanotechnology Laboratory Italy Light emitting polymer nanofibers |
| December 4, 2009 | 41st New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Harvard University |
| December 2, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Markus Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Deformation and failure of protein materials in extreme conditions and disease |
| November 18, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Assaf Rotem, Harvard Magnetic induction of neural activity: from ring cultures to rotating fields |
| November 11, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roger Kamm, Massachusetts Institute of Technology A computational approach to network rheology |
| November 4, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeffrey Karp, MIT/HMS Next Generation Biomaterials and Stem Cell Therapeutics |
| October 21, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ozgur Sahin, Rowland Institute Microsecond force spectroscopy of live cells and molecular |
| October 14, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Katherine Mirica, Harvard University Chemomechanics at the cell-material interface: Why cell-generated force and extracellular matrix stiffness are coupled |
| October 7, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Krystyn Van Vliet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chemomechanics at the cell-material interface: Why cell-generated force and extracellular matrix stiffness are coupled |
| September 30, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matthew Lang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Force spectroscopy of actin machinery and peptide aptamers |
| September 23, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Philip Niethammer, Harvard Medical School Wound Detection in Zebrafish |
| September 18, 2009 | 40th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Brandeis University |
| September 16, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tuomas Knowles, Cambridge University Physical Aspects of Protein Aggregation |
| September 9, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jiandi Wan, Princeton University Probing cellular dynamics: a microfluidic study of ATP release from red blood cells |
| September 2, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shawn Douglas, Wyss Institute Self-assembly of DNA into three-dimensional shapes |
| August 26, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Guangnan Meng, Harvard University Free Energy Landscape of Colloidal Assembly at Small N |
| August 19, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Evan Evans, UNM/BU/UBC Molecular forces in cell adhesion -- from outside to inside the cell |
| August 12, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Evan Evans, UNM/BU/UBC Molecular forces in cell adhesion -- from outside to inside the cell |
| August 5, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Joanna Aizenberg, Harvard University Self-assembling microflowers and microdreadlocks |
| July 15, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Samantha Jenkins; University West, Trollhattan, Sweden Multi-Scale Science, New Theory and High-Performance Computing for Industrial Chemistry |
| July 8, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Erez Lieberman, Harvard University/Broad Institute The genome as polymer |
| July 1, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Eli Eisenberg, Tel-Aviv University Old dogs playing new tricks: what else can we learn from the hard spheres model? |
| June 26, 2009 | 39th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Schlumberger-Doll Research Center |
| June 24, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Otto Glatter, University of Graz Structure and Dynamics of Dense and Turbid Colloidal Systems Studied by Light Scattering |
| June 17, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Nicholas Christakis, Harvard University/Harvard Medical School The Spread of Health Phenomena Across Complex, Longitudinally Evolving Social Networks |
| June 10, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Peter Schurtenberger, University of Fribourg The interplay between spinodal decomposition and dynamical arrest in colloidal suspensions and protein solutions |
| June 3, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Lei Xu, Harvard University The Secret of Splashing |
| May 27, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Dan Needleman, Harvard University Spindle Biophysics and Spindle Physics |
| May 20, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Galit Lahav, Harvard Medical School Dynamics of the p53 signaling network |
| May 13, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wynter Duncanson, Harvard University Lipid functionalized polymer microbubbles for molecular imaging |
| May 6, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Randy Ewoldt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Snail robots and reversible adhesion with nonlinear viscoelastic materials |
| April 29, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sara Hashmi, Yale University Stabilizing colloidal asphaltenes |
| April 22, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Randy Ewoldt, Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology/ Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School A few techniques for in vivo tissue mechanics measurement |
| April 15, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Trushant Majmudar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nonlinear Dynamics in Viscoelastic Jets |
| April 8, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jung Woo Lee, University of Michigan Human in a test tube: Toward drug development process in 3D cell scaffolds |
| March 25, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Greg Rutledge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Electrospun Nanofibers |
| March 18, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ping Sheng, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Onsager principle and hydrodynamics in the nanoscale |
| March 13, 2009 | 38th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Yale University |
| March 4, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar John Dutcher, University of Guelph Biopolymers From Bacteria: Nature's Nanotechnology |
| February 25, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Philip Kollmannsberger, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Magnetic tweezers and the nonlinear rheology of living cells |
| February 18, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Etienne Reyssat, Harvard University Hygromorphs |
| February 11, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ning Wu, Harvard University Formation of Periodic and Hierarchical structures on Thin Polymer Films Induced by Electric Field |
| February 4, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matthias Schneider, University of Augsburg Soft Matter Fairly Critical: From Self Organized Blood Clotting and Fluctuating Membrane Topology |
| January 28, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Evangelos Gatzogiannis, Harvard University CARS Microscopy on Attractive Colloidal Gels |
| January 21, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mike Hagan, Brandeis University Viruses as adaptable containers — modeling the simultaneous assembly and encapsulation of flexible polymers and solid nanoparticles by viral capsid proteins |
| January 7, 2009 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeffrey Fredberg, Harvard School of Public Health A hard day in the life of a soft cell: flimsy, fragile, fluidizing |
| December 13, 2008 | From Bean to Bar: The Sweet Science of Chocolate at Harvard University Holiday Lecture for Children and their Parents – Flyer |
| December 10, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Peer Fischer, Rowland Institute Chirality & flow: from the synthesis of molecules to realizing micro-swimmers |
| December 5, 2008 | 37th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Harvard University |
| December 3, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Tony Dinsmore, UMass Amherst Watching crystals nucleate and melt: colloids as a model to study phase transitions |
| November 26, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Naama Wiesel, Hebrew University Jerusalem The structure of the lamin filament in health and disease |
| November 19, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Bulbul Chakraborty, Brandeis University Fluctuations, Response, Entropy, and "Temperature" in Granular Packings |
| November 12, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Amit Meller, Boston University DNA translocations through solid-state nanopores – size does matter |
| November 5, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Pedro Reis, MIT Thin Elastic Sheets at Solid Interfaces: Blisters and Folds |
| October 29, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Antoine van Oijen, Harvard Medical School Watching individual proteins at work on DNA |
| October 22, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sarah Veatch, Cornell University Lipid rafts reach a critical point |
| October 15, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kevin Verstrepen & Will Meyers, Harvard & the Cambridge Brewing Company Squishy Oktoberfest Special: Beer Science 101 |
| October 8, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Howard Berg, Harvard University Running the flagellar motor at zero torque |
| October 1, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar David Nelson, Harvard University Nanoscience in Biology: Virus Buckling and Folding of Pollen Grains |
| September 24, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gene Stanley, Boston University Liquid Water, the "Most Complex" Fluid: New Experiments and Simulations in Bulk, Nanoconfined, and Biological Environments |
| September 17, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Haeshin Lee, MIT Bioadhesion of Mussels and Geckos: Molecular Mechanics and Material-Independent Surface Chemistry |
| September 12, 2008 | 36th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Brandeis University |
| September 10, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Andrei Tokmakoff, MIT 2D IR Spectroscopy of Protein Conformational Dynamics |
| September 3, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chris Fang-Yen, Harvard University How worms eat |
| August 27, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Adam Cohen, Harvard University Dynamics of single molecules of DNA in solution |
| August 20, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Enhua Zhou, Harvard School of Public Health Is the cytoskeleton critical? |
| August 13, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Max Diem, Northeastern University Spectral Cyto-pathology: Infrared and Raman spectroscopy of human cells |
| August 6, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ben Hatton, Harvard University Patterned Materials Deposition by 'Writing' on Superhydrophobic Surfaces |
| July 30, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Euiheon Chong, Massachusetts General Hospital From In Vitro Super-resolution Microscopy to In Vivo Multi-photon Intravital Microscopy |
| July 23, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gi-Ra Yi, Korea Basic Science Institute Structured Colloids from Block Copolymers |
| July 16, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Don & Ada Olins, Bowdoin College Why is the granulocyte a very squishy cell? |
| July 9, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ryan Hayward, UMass Amherst Creasing of surface-attached hydrogels: Harnessing an elastic instability to create active surfaces |
| July 2, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Kandice Tanner, UC Irvine Imaging: From the cell to the brain |
| June 27, 2008 | 35th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at University of Rhode Island |
| June 25, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Till Boecking, Harvard Medical School Monolayer chemistry on porous silicon photonic crystals: Tools for monitoring biological processes |
| June 18, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chase Broeders, Vrije University Nonlinear elasticity of biopolymer networks with highly flexible cross-links |
| June 15 - August 23, 2008 | MRSEC summer 2008 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program |
| June 11, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Surita Bhatia, UMass Amherst Using stereochemistry to control rheology in associative polymer gels |
| June 4, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Einat Lev, MIT Anisotropic viscosity in viscous flow models—implications for the Earth's mantle |
| May 28, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Leonid Mirny, MIT How does a protein find its site on DNA? |
| May 21, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ron Lebofsky, Harvard Medical School Intranuclear Quorum Sensing During Eukaryotic DNA Replication |
| May 14, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roy Bar-Ziv, Weizmann Institute Gene brushes: from crowding and the search problem to synthetic systems |
| May 7, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zvonimir Dogic, Brandeis University Chiral Self-Assembly |
| April 30, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar John Bush, MIT The fluid trampoline: droplets bouncing on a soap film |
| April 23, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Catherine Klapperich, Boston University Microfluidic Sample Preparation for Molecular Detection of Infectious Disease |
| April 16, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roman Stocker, MIT Life in a drop of ocean: microfluidic insights into microbial ecology |
| April 9, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Hans Wyss, Harvard Glass formation and structuring in soft materials |
| April 2, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chris Love, MIT Microtools for profiling heterogeneous populations of cells |
| March 26, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Igor Kulic, Harvard University The origin and function of cytoskeletal noise |
| March 21, 2008 | 34th New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Yale University |
| March 19, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shashi Murthy, Northeastern University Microfluidic Cell Separation: Applications & Challenges in Cardiac Tissue Engineering |
| March 12, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Debbie Chacra, Olin College Biological Materials: Characterization of Composites and Biopolymers |
| March 5, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Eric Anton Verploegen, MIT Self assembly of liquid crystalline and block copolymers |
| February 27, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Stefan Münster, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität-Erlangen-Nürnberg Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Collagen Networks—Laying the Groundwork to Obtain Cell Traction Forces in 3 Dimensions |
| February 20, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeff Palmer, MIT Constitutive Modeling of the Stress-Strain Behavior of F-Actin Filament Networks |
| February 13, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Christopher J Bettinger, MIT Synthesis and Microfabrication of Elastomeric Biomaterials for Advanced Tissue Engineering Scaffolds |
| February 6, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Mathilde Reyssat, Harvard University Non-sticking drops |
| January 30, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Raphael Bruckner, Massachusetts General Hospital Non-sticking drops |
| January 23, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jane' Kondev, Brandeis University Chemistry in a box: Effect of confinement on diffusion limited reactions |
| January 16, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Etienne Reyssat, Harvard University Three liquid jet stories |
| January 9, 2008 | Squishy Physics Seminar Natalie Arkus, Harvard University Directed Self-Assembly of Spherical Particles at Low N |
| December 19, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Patrick McCluskey, Harvard University Parallel measurement of thermal properties in nanoscale coatings |
| December 15, 2007 | Squishy, Gooey, Stretchy: The Science of Making Pizza at Harvard University Holiday Lecture for Families with H.A. Stone and A. Rowat - Flyer |
| December 12, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jeremy Munday, Harvard University Casimir forces and quantum electrodynamic torques |
| December 5, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wesley Wong, Rowland Institute Probing single-molecule dynamics and structure with optical tweezers |
| November 30, 2007 | 33rd New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Harvard University |
| November 28, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Johan Paulsson, Harvard Medical School General Principles for Randomness in Cells |
| November 21, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sebastian Rammensee, Technical University Munich Assembly of Spider Silk in a Microfluidic Device |
| November 14, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Patrick Doyle, MIT Microfluidic Technologies to Create Complex Microparticles |
| November 7, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Katharina Ribbeck, Harvard University Physical Properties of Mucus |
| October 31, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Nathan Israeloff, Northeastern University Fluctuations in Squishy Imitators |
| October 24, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jacques Dumais, Harvard University Fluctuations in Squishy Imitators |
| October 17, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vikram Prasad, Emory University Microrheology at Interfaces: On the Surface of things, Brownian Motion is Correlated |
| October 10, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Adam Feinberg, Harvard University Engineering the Biotic-Abiotic Interface: From Anti-fouling Surfaces to Soft Robotics to Cardiac Disease Models |
| October 3, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar George Lauder, Harvard University Biomechanics of Squishy Fish Locomotion |
| September 28, 2007 | 32nd New England Complex Fluids Meeting at University of Connecticut, Storrs |
| September 26, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Irene Chen, Harvard University Lipid Vesicles During the Origin of Life |
| September 19, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vinny Manoharan, Harvard University Holographic Particle Tracking |
| September 12, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Joshua Vaughan, Harvard University Chasing Poliovirus in Live Cells |
| August 29, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Goran Vladisavljevic, Loughborough University Controlled Production of Emulsions Using Membrane and Silicon Microchannel Array Devices |
| August 22, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Emmanuel Boucrot, Harvard Medical School Mammalian Cells Change Volume and Membrane Area During Mitosis |
| August 15, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Christian Reich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit�t X-ray and Fluorescence Studies of Planar Lipid Bilayers |
| August 8, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Christopher Pipe, MIT Microfluidic Rheology |
| August 1, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Trevor Ng, MIT Rheology of Bread Dough and Gluten Gels |
| July 25, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jennifer Kirchhoff, Florida State University Understanding Complex Smectic Phases through Doping |
| June 15, 2007 | 31st New England Complex Fluids Meeting at Brown University |
| June 13, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gregg Lois, Yale University The Jamming Transition in Systems with Attraction |
| June 6, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matthieu Wyart, Harvard University Soft Modes and Dynamics in Amorphous Solids |
| May 9, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Emilie Verneuil, CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique Adhesion on Microstructured Surfaces |
| Apr. 17, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Sang-Hyuk Lee, NYU Brownian motion in complex potential energy landscape created with light |
| Apr. 10-11, 2007 | Nanomaterials in Biology and Medicine: Promises and Perils at the National Academy of Sciences Building, Washington, DC |
| Mar. 28, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Silke Henkes, Brandeis Univ. A Statistical Ensemble for Soft Granular Matter |
| Mar. 21, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shomeek Mukhopadhyay, Duke Univ. Fingers, Starbursts and Kinks: Dynamics of driven contact lines |
| Mar. 15, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Erwin Frey, LMU Munich Floppy modes and non-affine deformations in biopolymer networks |
| Mar. 14, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gi-Ra Yi, KBSI Korea Colloidal crystallization under centrifugal force field |
| Mar. 2, 2007 | 30th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Yale University |
| Jan. 10, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Yi-Chia Lin, Harvard University Elastic behavior of composite actin and microtubule networks |
| Dec. 13, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Adeline Perro, University of Bordeaux Synthesis of colloidal particles with controlled morphologies and surface properties |
| Dec. 6, 2007 | Squishy Physics Seminar Wouter Ellenbroek, Leiden Institute for Physics Linear response of jammed granular media: critical behavior at the jamming transition |
| Top | |
| Dec. 1, 2006 | Science by Candlelight: A Holiday Lecture for Children and their Parents at Harvard University |
| Dec. 1, 2006 | 29th New England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University |
| Nov. 29, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matthias Schneider, University of Augsburg Planar Microfluidics - Blood Flow on a Chip |
| Nov. 27 - Dec. 1, 2006 | Materials Research Society Fall Meeting Hynes Convention Center & Sheraton Boston Hotel Boston, MA |
| Nov. 15, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Anita Mehta, Radcliffe/S.N. Bose National Centre, Calcutta Sand in a Jam |
| Nov. 8, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Loren Hough, UC Boulder Optical Activity and Layer Curvature in Bent-Core Liquid Crystals |
| Oct. 25, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Harvard University |
| Oct. 18, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar David Sessoms, Harvard University Spatial Heterogeneities in the Structural Relaxation Dynamics of Confined Foams |
| Oct. 11, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Xavier Trepat, Harvard University Universal Physical Responses to Stretch in the Living Cell |
| Oct. 4, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Giovanni Romeo, Harvard University Structure and dynamics of polymer nanocomposites. From technological to model systems |
| Sept. 27, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Matt Lynch, Proctor and Gamble Collapse of depletion-induced vesicle gels |
| Sept. 20, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Yaqian Liu, Harvard University Gravitationally Induced Deformation and Delayed Collapse of Emulsion Gels |
| Sept. 15, 2006 | 28th New England Complex Fluids Workshop |
| Sept. 13, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Ashish Orpe, Clark University Structure and velocity fluctuations in dense granular flows observed with internal imaging |
| Sept. 6, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Daeyeon Lee, MIT Surface Engineering of Non-planar Geometries Using Layer-by-Layer Assembly |
| Aug. 23, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Irmgard Bischofberger, Univ. of Fribourg Complex solvation of H-bond sensitive materials in water-alcohol mixtures |
| Jul. 12, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Brent Hoffman, UPenn A consensus mechanical response of the mammalian cytoskeleton |
| May 24, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Long Cai, Harvard University Life at Low Copy Numbers: A Single Molecule Adventure in Gene Expression |
| May 17, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School On the Biological Function of Surfactants |
| May 10, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Andre Studart, ETH Zurich How Can Colloid Science Help the Fabrication of Novel and Better Ceramics? |
| May 5, 2006 | SEAS Industry Partnership Workshop Bioengineering, Materials Science, and Nanosystems: A Confluence of Innovation |
| April 22, 2006 | Encore Einstein Lecture: |
| April 7, 2006 | Research Experience for Teachers Program Application Deadline More Info |
| April 5, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Per Lyngs Hansen, MEMPHYS - University S. Denmark Physics of Electrifying Biomatter |
| March 22, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Oliver Dauchot, CEA, Sacley Glassy Dynamics of Granular Media: Caging and Dynamical Heterogeneities |
| March 1, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Pabitra Sen, Schlumberger Research Self-Assembly in Asphaltenes—Enthalpy, Entropy of Depletion and Dynamics at Crossover |
| February–May 2006 | Applied Physics 298r: Interdisciplinary Chemistry, Engineering and Physics |
| February 27, 2006 | Summer 2006 Research Experience for Undergraduates
(REU) Program Application Deadline Apply Online More Info |
| February 22, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Pavel Kraikivski, Max Planck Institute, Golm Polymer Manipulation and Motility on Substrates |
| February 8, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Peter Domachuk, University of Sydney Squishy and Shiny Physics: Optofluidics |
| January 18, 2006 | Squishy Physics Seminar Armand Ajdari, ESPCI Paris/Harvard University Droplet Traffic in Microfluidic Trees: Complexity and Passive Control |
| January 11, 2006 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Suliana Manley, MIT Organization in Model Membranes: Proteins and Phase Separation |
| December 11, 2005 | 2005 Holiday Lecture |
| December 7, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Hans Wyss, Harvard University Structure and Dynamics of Soft Glassy Materials |
| December 2, 2005 | 25th New
England Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University Download PDF Flyer |
| November 30, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vesna Damljanovic, Boston University Traction Assays for Studies of Cell Mechanotransduction |
| November 9, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Oliver Reubenacker, University of Connecticut Worm Algorithm in Microrheology |
| October 26, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Vinny Manoharan, Harvard University What's Shakin' Inside a Foam |
| October 19, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Patrick Johnson, Simmons College Anisotropic Silica Particles for Confocal Microscopy |
| October 12, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Adam Engler, University of Pennsylvania Mechano-chemical Signaling Directs Cell State |
| October 5, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Roger Gaudreault, Cascades Corp. Salt Necessary for PEO-Cofactor Association: The Role of Molecular Modelling in PEO Flocculation Mechanisms |
| August 17, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Chinlin Guo, Harvard University The Long-range Cooperativity in Yeast Mating Polarization |
| June 13 – August 19, 2005 | Research Experience for Undergraduates Program |
| July 7, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Benny Davidovich, Harvard University Jarzynski Equality and Possible Applications at Various Scales |
| June 22, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Corey O'Hern, Yale University Random Close Packing Revisited: How Many Ways can we Pack Frictionless Disks? |
| June 15, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Gregor Knoener, Queensland University Twist and Pull: Optical Micromanipulation Applied to (Bio)physics |
| Summer 2005 | Research Experience for Teachers |
| May 25, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Anita Bowles, Harvard University Stress and Relaxation in Polymer Thin Films |
| May 18–20, 2005 | Frontiers
of Soft Condensed Matter Workshop, ExxonMobil Corporate Research Lab Clinton, New Jersey More Info |
| May 18, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar Zvonomir Dogic, Rowland Institute Bacterial Flagellum as a Model Chiral Polymer |
| May 11, 2005 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
| April 27, 2005 | SEAS Industrial Outreach Program (IOP) Materials in Bioengineering and Medicine Conference Registration and Info |
April 20, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| April 15, 2005 | Summer 2005 Research Experience for Teachers
(RET) Program deadline More Info |
April 13, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 6, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
March 30, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| March 18, 2005 | PPG Lecture and Condensed Matter Seminar, |
March 9, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| February 25, 2005 | Summer 2005 Research Experience for Undergraduates
(REU) Program Application Deadline |
February 23, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
February 9, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 19, 2005 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| Top | |
| December 18, 2004 | The
Squishy Physics of Complex Fluids, a talk by Itai Cohen
at the Museum of Science, Boston More Info |
| December 11, 2004 | What
Kind of Strange Matter is Metallic Glass? a talk by Professor Mike Aziz at the Museum of Science, Boston More Info |
| December 11, 2004 | 2004 Holiday Lecture A Playground of Polymers: From Strings and Worms to Bouncing Balls and Glowing Goo More Info Download a Flyer and Map. |
December 8, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar
|
| December 5, 2004 | 21st
Quarterly Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University Download PDF Flyer |
December 1, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
November 24, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Dominic Vella, DAMTP, Cambridge University The Cheerios Effect |
October 6, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Matthieu Wyart, Saclay and University of Chicago Geometric Origin of Excess Soft Vibrational Modes in Amorphous Solid |
September 29, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Azadeh Samadani, MIT Non-genetic Individuality in the Gradient Sensing Response of Dictyostelium |
September 15, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Markus Heutter, MIT Structure of Colloidal Particle Networks: Characterization of Heterogeneity and Porosity |
| August 4 & 5, 2004 |
End of the Summer Seminar Series (REU Participants) Maxwell Dworkin G115 |
July 28, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
July 21, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| July 14, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
| June 30, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
June 16, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| June 14, 2004 | Research Experience for Undegraduates (REU) program begins |
| May 26, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
| May 20–21, 2004 | Industrial Outreach Program:
Frontiers in Materials and Nanoscience |
| May 12, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
| May 5, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar Arpita Upadhyaya, MIT Actin' Pushy and Pulling Springs: Two Forms of Cell Motility |
| April 28, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
| April 21, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar Bill Ristenpart, Princeton University Electric-field Induced Assembly of Colloidal Particles |
| April 14, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar Jamie Forrest, MIT Protein Adsorption and Stability at Biomaterial Interfaces |
April 7, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
March 17, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
March 10, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| March 1, 2004 | Peer
Instruction Workshop for Science and Math Teachers at Harvard University
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm Location: Harvard University, 209 Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA Click here for More Info Flyer for Peer Instruction 2004 (pdf) |
| February 27, 2004 | Application Deadline for 2004 Research
Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program |
February 25, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
February 18, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| February 11, 2004 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
February 4, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 28, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 21, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Robert Prud'homme, Princeton University Soft Self Assembly with Amphiphilic Polymers: Making Drug Nanoparticles and Complex Liquid Crystal Phases |
January 14, 2004 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| December 5, 2003 | 17th
Quarterly Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard University More Info (PDF Flyer) Map (PDF) |
| December 5, 2003 | PPG Lecture, Professor Jerome Bibette, ESPCI,
Paris, Self-Assembly of Magnetic Colloids as Biosensors Pierce Hall, Room 209 at 4:00 p.m. Click here for more info (PDF) |
December 3, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| November 12, 2003 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
November 5, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
October 29, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
October 22, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
October 15, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
October 8, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| October 1, 2003 | Squishy Physics Seminar |
September 24, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
September 17, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
August 27, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
August 20, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| August 5 & 7, 2003 | End of the Summer Seminar Series (REU
and RET Participants) Maxwell Dworkin G115 |
August 1, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Stephan Koehler, Emory University Physics of Cutting Soft Materials |
July 23, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| July 7, 2003 | Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program begins |
June 18, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| June 13, 2003 | 15th Quarterly Complex Fluids Workshop
at Yale University More Info |
| June 9, 2003 | Research Experience for Undegraduates (REU) program begins |
June 4, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
May 28, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Roger Adami, Pfizer, Inc. Stabilization of DNA From a Pharmaceutical Perspective |
May 7, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| May 2, 2003 | Final School Group for Cambridge and Brighton Public Schools participating in Project TEACH on campus (resumes in Fall, 2003) |
April 30, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 23, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| April 16, 2003 | Squishy Physics Seminar Cornelius Storm, University of Pennsylvania Strain Stiffening in Biopolymer Networks |
| April 11, 2003 | Application Deadline for the Summer 2003 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program (6-8 week summer research program for middle and high school science teachers) |
| April 10–11, 2003 | Industrial Outreach Program with
special MRSEC program More information |
| April 10, 2003 | MRSEC Advisory Board Meeting (in conjunction with IOP meeting) |
April 9, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Yariv Kafri, Harvard University DNA Denaturation |
April 2, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| March 21, 2003 | 14th Quarterly Complex Fluids Workshop at UMass-Boston |
March 12, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| February 28, 2003 | Application Deadline for 2003 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program |
February 26, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Andrew Loxley, A123Systems, Boston Microcapsules: Controlled Release to Printable Electronic Displays |
| February 7, 2003 | Harvard President Larry Summers visit to MRSEC and NSEC |
January 29, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 22, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Matthew Lynch Proctor & Gamble, Colloid and Surfactant Laboratory Advances Towards the Practical Usage of Cubosomes |
January 15, 2003 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
December 11, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Meredith Betterton, New York University Helicase Opening of DNA: Active Versus Passive Opening |
| December 6, 2002 | 13th Quarterly Complex
Fluids Workshop at Harvard |
November 27, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| November 21 2002 | Symposium on Fluid Flow Focusing and Microfluidics |
| November 20, 2002 | Squishy Physics Seminar Shelley Anna, Harvard University Designing Emulsions One Drop at a Time |
November 13, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Nagu Nagarajan, Pennsylvania State University Predicting Surfactant Self-Assembly |
November 6, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| October 30, 2002 | PPG Lecture, Professor Kathleen J. Stebe, Department of Chemical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University Using Surfactants to Direct Pattern Formation from an Evaporating Drop Pierce Hall, Room 209 at 4:00 p.m. Click here for more info (PDF) |
October 23, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
| October 16, 2002 | Squishy Physics Seminar Alan Parker, Switzerland Gravity-driven Unjamming of Emulsion Gels |
October 9, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
October 2, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
September 4, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Gady Frenkel, Tel Aviv University The Structure of the Memory Kernel in the Generalized Langevin Equation |
August 28, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
June 12, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
June 5, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
May 22, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
May 15, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Stephen Arnason, UMass Boston Electron Glass Behavior in Amorphous Indium Oxide FETs |
May 15, 2002 |
Application Deadline for the 2002 Industrial Internship program |
May 8, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
May 1, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 24, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 17, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 12, 2002 |
Application Deadline for the Summer 2002 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program (6-8 week summer research program for middle and high school science teachers) |
April 10, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
April 3, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
March 15, 2002 |
Application Deadline for the 2002 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program |
March 13, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
February 13, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 30, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 23, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 16, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar |
January 9, 2002 |
Squishy Physics Seminar Itai Cohen, Harvard University Topological Transitions in Two-fluid Flows |
|
|
|
| December 7, 2001 | 9th Quarterly Complex Fluids Workshop at Harvard (led by D.A. Weitz and S. Fraden.) Download PDF application with map |
| October 12, 2001 | PPG Lecture, Professor Norman Wagner, University
of Delaware Engineering Colloidal Interactions to Control Reversible Shear Thickening in Concentrated Dispersions Click here for more info (PDF) |
| October 5, 2001–May 11, 2002 | Project TEACH, Fridays (each seventh grade class in the Cambridge Public School visits Harvard for the day, science presentations made by Center faculty) |
| Summer 2001 | Research Experience for Undergraduates
(REU) Program (10 week summer research program for undergraduates) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program (6-8 week summer research program for middle and high school science teachers) |
| May 8, 2001 | Visit by 35 Italian Chemists, Physicists, Engineers from Universities and Industry, Scientific Attaches, and Specialized Journalists |
| April 27, 2001 | Application Deadline for the 2001
Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program |
| March 23, 2001 | Application Deadline for the 2001 Research
Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program. Application Deadline for the 2001 Industrial Internship program |
| March 17, 2001 | Presentation for the Harvard Foundation (K-8 students in Cambridge) |
| February 22–23, 2001 | NSF Site Visit Review |
| December 15, 2000 | 5th Quarterly New England Complex Fluids Workshop (led by D.A. Weitz and S. Fraden) |
| October 20–April 27, 2000 | Project TEACH, Fridays (each seventh grade class in the Cambridge Public School visits Harvard for the day, science presentations made by Center faculty) |
| Summer 2000 | Research Experience for Undergraduates
(REU) Program (10 week summer research program for undergraduates) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program (4-,6-,or 8-week research and education program for teachers) |
| May 26, 2000 | Deadline for applications: Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program |
| May 18, 2000 | Peer Instruction Workshop for Middle and High School Math and Science Teachers led by Eric Mazur |
| May 13, 2000 | Visit to Harvard and MRSEC by Kipp Academy, Texas |
| May 12, 2000 | PPG Lecture. Professor William Russel, Princeton |
| April 26, 2000 | Career Day, Peabody Middle School, Cambridge, MA |
| April 4, 2000 | Visit to MRSEC by Hopi High School (AZ) students |
| March 24, 2000 | Deadline for applications: Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program |
| March 18, 2000 | Experimental Facilities Workshop for Saturday Science Academy high school students |
| March 18, 2000 | Presentation for Harvard Foundation (K-8 students in Cambridge) |
| February 2–May 3, 2000 | AP298 Materials Chemistry and Physics, survey course for graduate students in materials science, chemistry, physics, biology and engineering (led by E. Kaxiras, M.J. Aziz, H.A. Stone, D.A. Weitz, with 11 other Center faculty) |
| December 17, 1999 | Complex Fluids Workshop (led by D.A. Weitz and S. Fraden) |
| December 3, 1999 | NSF/MRSEC Directors Meeting, hosted by the Harvard MRSEC |
| October 22, 1999 | PPG Lecture, Professor Paul Laibinis, MIT |
| October 22, 1999-May 12, 2000 | Project TEACH,
Fridays (each seventh grade class in the Cambridge Public School
visits Harvard for the day, science presentations made by Center faculty) |