August 17, 2013 – August 18, 2013

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Location

New London, NH, USA

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Organizers

Robijn Bruinsma, University of California, Los Angeles
Andreas Bausch, Technical University, Munchen

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Important Links

GKRS Website
Registration Form (choose “Soft Condensed Matter Physics (GSR)” from the 2013 list)

 

Overview

This two-day event will run August 17-18, 2013, at Colby-Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire, to be followed by the Conference on August 18-23 at the same location. The theme of both events is the study of new materials inspired by Soft Matter Physics. Such materials are characterized by parameters that have a very wide range of values and that often are tunable. Ultimately, this can be traced back to the presence of wide a range of important length scales and time scales. The structural flexibility makes soft matter physics a prime discipline for the study of newly synthesized materials characterized by structural complexity. In the same manner, the wide range of characteristic time scales of soft matter makes it a fertile ground for new materials with novel and interesting dynamical complexity. The importance of thermal fluctuations is a theme that unifies the different directions.

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The inspiration for new materials of interest to soft matter physicists increasingly comes from biological materials. One example is the production of new optical band-gap colloidal materials whose structure is inspired by the iridescence found in butterflies and birds. Important here is the identification of the driving physical mechanisms that lead to spontaneous self organization in biological materials and learning how to exploit these in the context of soft matter physics. Conversely, the fundamental principles of physics that are evident in soft matter systems often can be applied in biological systems.

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GKRS Program:

Saturday, August 17, 2013
Check-in begins: 2:00 pm 
Introductory Session: 3:30 - 4:30 pm Challenges in
Soft Matter Physics
Poster Session I: 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm 
Dinner: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm 
Evening Session: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Self-Assembly of Complex Soft Materials

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Sunday, August 18, 2013
Breakfast: 7:30 - 8:30 am
Morning Session: 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Complexity in Biological Systems
Poster Session II: 11:00 - 12:30 pm
Lunch: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Mentoring Session: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
“Building your best scientific career”