Author Archive

We are very pleased to announce that Professor Guruswamy Kumaraswamy has been appointed as an Associate Editor for Soft Matter

Profile picture of Professor Guruswamy KumaraswamyProfessor Guruswamy (Guru) Kumaraswamy is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Guru’s research interests are in the area of structure-property relations in polymers and nanocomposites,  waste valorization, and sustainable materials. Guru is primarily an experimentalist and his group uses tools such as rheology and small angle X-ray and neutron scattering to probe materials microstructure. Read more on his group webpage. You can follow him on Twitter @GuruKumaraswamy. He is looking forward to welcoming submissions, particularly in the areas of polymers, colloids, surfaces and interfaces.

 

 

 

 

He has given his insight and thoughts on the future of the soft materials field:

“Soft materials are likely to become even more pervasive in our experience – from the humble flexible packaging that increases the shelf life of foods, to highly engineered lipid nanoparticles that envelop mRNA. With increasing usage, comes great responsibility, to ensure that we do not overwhelm the environment. Therefore, I anticipate that our community will emphasize research that optimizes use, and increased functionality of soft materials. I hope to see this emphasis reflected in the articles published by Soft Matter. Circular use of soft materials, sustainability, recycling and upcycling will be the defining topics for materials research in our times, and this should be reflected in the articles featured in Soft Matter.

 

Click here to submit your manuscript to Professor Kumaraswamy

 

Read Professor Kumaraswamy’s Soft Matter articles

Colloidal assembly by directional ice templating
Bipul Biswas, Mayank Misra, Anil Singh Bisht, Sanat K. Kumar and Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 4098-4108

On the sensitivity of alginate rheology to composition
Karthika Suresh, Marleen Häring, Guruswamy Kumaraswamy and David Díaz Díaz

Soft Matter, 2019, 15, 159-165

Aqueous dispersions of lipid nanoparticles wet hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces
Manoj Kumar, Mayuresh A. Kulkarni, Narendiran G. Chembu, Arun Banpurkar and Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Soft Matter, 2018, 14, 205-215

Capillary uptake in microporous compressible sponges
Soumyajyoti Chatterjee, Pankaj Doshi and Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 5731-5740

Phase behaviour of the ternary system: monoolein-water-branched polyethylenimine
Manoj Kumar and Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 5705-5711

Compact polar moieties induce lipid-water systems to form discontinuous reverse micellar phase
Manoj Kumar, Naganath G. Patil, Chandan Kumar Choudhury, Sudip Roy, Ashootosh V. Ambade and Guruswamy Kumaraswamy

Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 5417-5424

 

Professor Kumaraswamy’s favourite Soft Matter articles

Professor Kumaraswamy has selected some recent publications in Soft Matter that he has found particularly interesting or insightful. These articles are all free to read until 15 July 2022.

Micro- and nanocelluloses from non-wood waste sources; processes and use in industrial applications
Julius Gröndahl, Kaisa Karisalmi and Jaana Vapaavuori

Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 9842-9858

Impact of dynamic covalent chemistry and precise linker length on crystallization kinetics and morphology in ethylene vitrimers
Bhaskat Soman, Yoo Kyung Go, Chengtian Shen, Cecilia Leal and Christopher M. Evans

Soft Matter, 2022, 18, 293-303
From our cross-journal themed collection on ‘Polymer Networks’ between Soft Matter and Polymer Chemistry

Modeling polymer crystallisation induced by a moving heat sink
Sabin Adhikari, Ahana Purushothaman, Alejandro A. Krauskopf, Christopher Durning, Sanat K. Kumar and Sumesh P. Thampi

Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 2518-2529

 

All these articles are currently FREE to read until 15 July 2022!

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Soft Matter Emerging Investigator – Alexandra Zidovska

Alexandra Zidovska is an Associate Professor of Physics at the Center for Soft Matter Research in the Physics Department at New York University. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara after she completed her undergraduate studies and M.Sc. at Technical University of Munich, Germany. She pursued her postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.  Prof. Zidovska held the prestigious Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellowship, was named Whitehead Fellow 2016 and is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award and Michele Auger Award in Biophysics 2020. Her current research uses approaches from soft condensed matter physics and polymer physics to study the cell nucleus and its constituents, such as the genome and subnuclear bodies, in particular their dynamics and spatial organization. She is also passionately engaged in causes related to diversity and inclusion in physics and related sciences. Her lab has an impressive record of recruiting, training and promoting women scientists across all levels, and Prof. Zidovska is founder and faculty leader of a new group, NYU Women in Physics dedicated to providing a more welcoming and stimulating environment for women and those from other underrepresented groups in physics. Find out more on her lab website.

 

Read her article ‘Mechanical stress affects dynamics and rheology of the human genome’.

 

How do you feel about Soft Matter as a place to publish research on this topic?

I am very excited to have our paper on the genome’s dynamics and rheology published in Soft Matter. It is a great journal showcasing the interdisciplinary nature of the field of soft matter by bridging physics, chemistry and biology. My group focuses on understanding the genome as a polymer inside the cell nucleus in live cells, which is research at the interface of physics and biology. Hence Soft Matter is a great place to share our results with the scientific community.

 

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

What I find most exciting about my research is also its most challenging part, that is, understanding the physics behind the dynamical self-organization of the genome and the cell nucleus in vivo. Inside living cells we can see first hand how nature relies on physical principles to carry out biological functions. In my group, we perform experiments on live human cells, obtaining measurements of physical parameters that then inform our physical picture of the genome and the cell nucleus. Such experiments are quite challenging, as their design is nontrivial given the complex nature of a living cell. Yet, that’s what I personally find very exciting, when we learn new physics directly from peering and poking into the cell.

 

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

In my opinion, one of the big questions in my field is to understand the non-equilibrium nature of the genome and the emergent phenomena it leads to. The dynamical self-organization of the genome affects all cellular processes via the central dogma of biology, hence its understanding is critical for revealing the physics of life. I believe that these living systems can teach us new non-equilibrium physics.

 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

My advice would be, when identifying scientific questions to study, choose those you are sincerely passionate about and that make you happy. Your enthusiasm for the problem will then help to fuel your motivation and energy, even when you encounter obstacles.

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Soft Matter Emerging Investigator – Janne-Mieke Meijer

Janne-Mieke Meijer is an Assistant Professor in the Soft Matter and Biological Physics group at the Applied Physics department of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Her research focuses on complex colloidal systems to discover the fundamental principles of how building block design influences self-organization and how to control the self-assembly process to engineer new materials. Janne-Mieke obtained a BSc. in Chemistry, a MSc. in Nanomaterial Science and a PhD in Physical and Colloid Chemistry from Utrecht University. She completed a postdoc at Lund University, and a Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Konstanz. She received a Veni personal grant from the Dutch Research Council in 2018. She can be found on Twitter @JenneMikie and Instagram @JMs_colloids.

 

 

Read her article ‘In-situ characterization of crystallization and melting of soft, thermoresponsive microgels by Small-Angle X-ray Scattering’.

 

How do you feel about Soft Matter as a place to publish research on this topic?

Soft Matter is an excellent interdisciplinary journal bridging physics, chemistry, and biology. It is a great place to publish and follow exciting works on these soft microgels that encompass features of both colloids and polymers.

 

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I am very excited about the work we are doing on different aspects of colloidal self-organization. Thanks to advances in synthesis and versatile assembly methods we can now finely tune colloidal complexity in terms of interactions, ranging from repulsive to attractive, and from hard to soft, while at the same time we can achieve almost any particle shape. The biggest challenge right now is to bring together the expertise and control needed to perform the colloidal experiments that can become quite complex. It is our aim to have control all the way from the synthesis of the colloids to the detailed analysis of the forces at play.

 

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

The self-assembly of molecules, nanoparticles and colloids is key to many natural and engineering processes, yet we do not fully understand how dynamic pathways or selective recognition control the final assemblies and hence the bulk material properties. To understand this complexity, we need to answer fundamental questions about how force, shape and composition dynamically interact and find out when equilibrium and non-equilibrium states emerge. Experimental studies of colloids can help us unravel these complex fundamental processes, and ultimately identify the design rules. This will open the way for a next generation of particle-based materials but will also generate new and important insights for condensed matter and biology.

 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Find a research direction that you are passionate about, this will make sure you have fun in your day-to-day research, and make a career plan. Even though most of the time these plans will not pan out, I found that this is key in setting your priorities right.

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Advanced materials and processes for soft robotics: open for submissions

Guest Editors Anand Mishra (Cornell University, USA), Zhihong Nie (Fudan University, China), Jamie Paik (EPFL, Switzerland) and Rob Shepherd (Cornell University, USA) would like to extend an invitation to all researchers working on the forefront of soft robotics, to contribute an article of their work to an exciting upcoming themed collection of Soft Matter, dedicated to advanced materials and processes for soft robotics.

Submissions are open from now until 8 June 2022

This collection will include, but is not limited to, printable materials for soft robotics, elastomeric and hydrogel actuators, soft sensing materials and devices, bioinspired soft materials/robots, multifunctional soft robots, advanced manufacturing of soft robots, dynamic behaviours of soft robots, energy for soft robotics and experimental protocols, functionality and performance.

If you wish to submit to the collection, please contact softmatter-rsc@rsc.org to receive a personal submission link.

Please note all manuscripts must be within scope for the journal and will be subject to the journal’s standard rigorous peer review procedures, managed by the journal editors.

Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are online and they will be published in a regular issue of Soft Matter.

If you have any questions, please contact us at softmatter-rsc@rsc.org

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We are very pleased to announce that Professor Alfred Crosby has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of Soft Matter

Profile picture of Al Crosby, new Soft Matter Editor-in-ChiefProfessor Alfred Crosby has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of Soft Matter, taking over from Professor Darrin Pochan, after serving as an Associate Editor since 2017. Alfred J. Crosby is a Professor of Polymer Science & Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Co-Director of the Center for Evolutionary Materials. His research interests lie generally in bio-inspired materials mechanics, especially topics including adhesion, nanoparticle assemblies, gels, thin films, fracture, hierarchical materials, and elastic instabilities.  He has received numerous awards, including being a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Physical Society, and his research has been covered extensively in the popular media. Read more on his group webpage.

 

 

What attracted you to pursue a career in soft materials and how did you get to where you are now?

Like many soft matter researchers, my career path was not by design. However, I clearly recall sitting in an undergraduate course and having the professor say that polymers weren’t worth studying since they follow no systematic rules for materials – I personally took this as a challenge! Soft matter, as we know, follows a beautiful, diverse set of rules and mechanisms, and its diversity provides its strength in addressing some of the most critical problems in our society. 

Embracing this diversity and learning how to communicate across the many fields that intersect in soft matter has been a key part of my career. It is one of the aspects of this field that I love the most – that I can learn evolutionary biology while also learning the latest ideas behind control theory in robotics. Understanding how to build bridges across fields with the concepts of soft matter has been key to learning new ideas that can significantly advance our fundamental knowledge within the field.

 

What are your thoughts on the future of the soft matter field?

The soft matter field is growing faster and larger than anyone may have imagined a decade or two ago. Scientists and engineers at the heart of this field have made great strides in the sophistication and efficiency with which they can address challenges – from helping to package and deliver vaccines to designing robotic devices that manoeuvre with care and agility. Our ability to control structure-property-performance in soft systems is impressive, and the future is bright for continued innovation and step-change discoveries. However, soft matter is also at the heart of many of the most critical global challenges – reducing waste, developing a circular materials economy, decreasing the consumption of non-renewable resources, enhancing renewable energy sources, and providing clean water, nutrition, and resources for healthy living. Our field is poised to play a leading role in addressing these challenges – especially with its strong connection to biology and the materials and mechanisms that Nature already uses.

 

What role do you think the journal Soft Matter can play in this?

I am excited for Soft Matter to play a central role in engaging the community and helping to share its knowledge to not only those “in the field” but even more importantly, to those in adjacent fields and beyond. Soft Matter’s roots are in providing a forum to encourage communication of complex, multidisciplinary concepts in a way that opens doors for new discoveries. We are excited to continue innovating to broaden this forum and to open it to all scientists and engineers. We are committed to increasing access in an inclusive and equitable manner. Soft Matter will continue to be “the home for the most impactful scientific advances and technological discoveries in soft matter, and we look forward to working with the entire community to provide the most welcoming, efficient, and scientifically thorough venue for sharing solutions to global challenges.

 

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as Editor in Chief for Soft Matter?

I am most excited to listen and talk with researchers around the globe in the field of soft matter. I want to hear how Soft Matter can be improved to enhance the positive impact that our field has on addressing global challenges, and I want to be a leader that helps to make these ideas a reality.

 

Why do you feel that researchers should choose to publish their work in Soft Matter?

Soft Matter played a leading role in defining the field that we know today, and our Editorial Board is committed to maximizing the impact that it will continue to have in the next decade and beyond. Our Editorial Board and staff work together to ensure that we are publishing the most significant advances in a timely manner. Together with our strong community of reviewers, we help authors convey the essential lessons that their research results reveal and to ensure that these lessons will be transferable across a broad, multidisciplinary audience.

 

Image text: click here to read new Editor-in-Chief Alfred Crosby's favourite recent Soft Matter articles

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Force transmission by nonlinear biomaterials

We are very pleased to announce the Soft Matter special collection on Force transmission by nonlinear biomaterials.

 

This collection focuses on a wide variety of non-linear mechanical phenomena in biological contexts and how they arise from the underlying fibrous structure of different biomaterials. The Guest Editors for this collection are:

  • Professor Yair Shokef (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
  • Professor Xiaoming Mao (University of Michigan, USA)

 

All of the articles are FREE to access until 24 January 2022

 

Read the following selection of articles from the collection:

 

Quantifying the link between local structure and cellular rearrangements using information in models of biological tissues
By Indrajit Tah, Tristan Sharp, Andrea Liu and Daniel Sussman

 

 

 

 

Harnessing biomimetic cryptic bonds to form self-reinforcing gels
By Santidan Biswas, Victor Yashin and Anna Balazs

  

 

 

 

 

 

Viscoelasticity of 3D actin networks dictated by the mechanochemical characteristics of cross-linkers
By X. Wei, C. Fang, B. Gong, J. Yao, J. Qian and Y. Lin

 

 

 

 

 

Inverse method based on 3D nonlinear physically constrained minimisation in the framework of traction force microscopy
By J. A. Sanz-Herrera, J. Barrasa-Fano, M. Cóndor and H. Van Oosterwyck

 

 

 

 

 

Read the full collection here

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Introducing the Soft Matter Emerging Investigators Series

For many years Soft Matter has showcased special collections dedicated to work carried out by researchers in the earlier stages of their research careers in our Emerging Investigator collections, most recently in our 2021 Emerging Investigators collection.

We hope that the soft matter community has found these issues to be valuable, both in the high quality of the articles and in drawing attention to newer voices in the community. The journal editors and Editorial Board consider these to have been highly successful.

In light of disruption to research programmes worldwide, we have taken the opportunity to reassess the format of this initiative, and we are now excited to announce the launch of the Soft Matter Emerging Investigators Series.

 

What is changing?

In place of a dedicated journal issue, Emerging Investigators papers will be published throughout the year. We anticipate the following benefits to this change:

  • No fixed submission deadlines allowing more flexibility for authors
  • Continual exposure of exciting work from early-career members of the community
  • Greater emphasis and focus on individual authors and research groups

We hope for this to offer a better service to our authors and readers well into the future.

 

What is not changing?

While we will no longer dedicate a specific journal issue to our Emerging Investigators, all other aspects of this initiative will remain the same. This includes:

  • Eligibility criteria (see below)
  • A dedicated web page for published articles alongside our other collections
  • Rigour and speed in peer review
  • An overall objective to showcase the full diversity of cutting-edge research carried out from soft matter scientists in the early stages of their independent careers worldwide

 

What happens now?

The Soft Matter Editorial Office will contact nominated Emerging Investigators throughout the year.

Regarding eligibility, contributors must:

  • Publish research within the journal scope
  • Currently be an independent research leader
  • Have not been featured as an Emerging Investigator in a previous Soft Matter Emerging Investigators article
  • Have either no more than 12 years of post-PhD research experience in the year of submission when taking into account any career breaks

 

Do you fit the criteria above, and wish to be featured as an Emerging Investigator in the journal? Get in touch with us at softmatter-rsc@rsc.org

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2022 Soft Matter Lectureship – Open for nominations

Do you know an early-career researcher who deserves recognition for their contribution to the soft matter field?

 

Soft Matter is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for its 2022 Lectureship award and will close on 31 December 2021. This annual award was established in 2009 to honour an early-stage career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the soft matter field.

 

Soft Matter Lectureship - open for nominations

 

Eligibility

To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates should meet the following criteria:

  • Be an independent researcher, PhD students postdoctoral research associates are not eligible
  • Be actively pursuing research within the soft matter field, and have made a significant contribution to the field
  • Be at an early stage of their independent career (this should typically be within 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, work in systems where their time period to independence may vary or who followed an alternative study path)

 

How to nominate

Nominations must be made via email to softmatter-rsc@rsc.org, and include the following:

  • The name, affiliation and contact details of the nominee, nominator and referee
  • An up-to-date CV of the nominee (1-3 A4 page maximum length)
  • A letter of recommendation from the nominator (500 words maximum length)
  • A supporting letter of recommendation from a referee (500 words maximum length). This could be from the nominee’s postdoc, PhD supervisor or academic mentor for instance
  • The nominator must confirm that to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is as such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship

Please note:

  • Self-nomination is not permitted
  • The nominee must be aware that he/she has been nominated for this lectureship
  • Previous winners and current Soft Matter Editorial Board members are not eligible
  • As part of the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see the RSC’s approach to Inclusion and Diversity.

 

Selection

  • All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Soft Matter Editorial Board, any Editorial Board members with a conflict of interest will be ineligible for the judging panel.
  • The judging panel will consider the following core criteria:
    • Excellence in research, as evidenced in reference to originality and impact
    • Quality of publications, patents or software
    • Innovation
    • Professional standing
    • Independence
    • Collaborations and teamwork
    • Evidence of promising potential
    • Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
  • In any instance where multiple nominees are judged to be equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria, the judging panel will use information provided on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion. Examples of this could include: involvement with RSC community activities, teaching or demonstrating, effective mentorship, service on boards, committees or panels, leadership in the scientific community, peer reviewing, promotion of diversity and inclusion, advocacy for chemistry, public engagement and outreach.

 

Previous winners

2021 – Silvia Marchesan, University of Trieste, Italy

2020 – Valeria Garbin, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

2019 – Timothy J White, University of Colorado, USA

2018 – Susan Perkin, University of Oxford, UK

2017 – Daeyeon Lee, University of Pennsylvania, USA

2016 – Damien Baigl, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

2015 – Lucio Isa, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

2014 – Eric Dufresne, Yale University, USA

2013 – Eric Furst, University of Delaware, USA

2012 – Patrick Doyle, MIT, USA

2011 – Michael J. Solomon, University of Michigan, USA

2010 – Bartosz Grzybowski, UNIST, Republic of Korea

2009 – Emanuela Zaccarelli, University of Rome, Italy

 

Nominations deadline: 31 December 2021

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Soft Matter Emerging Investigator – Shelby Hutchens

Profile picture of Shelby Hutchens

Shelby Hutchens is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Her research interests span from ultrasoft polymeric materials characterization to plant-inspired motion. She received all her degrees in Chemical Engineering, Ph.D. and M.S. from Caltech and B.S. from Oklahoma State. She received an NSF CAREER award in 2017. She can be found on Twitter @ShelbyHutchens.

 

Read Shelby’s Emerging Investigator article “On the relationship between cutting and tearing in soft elastic solids” and check out all of the 2021 Soft Matter Emerging Investigator articles here.

 

How do you feel about Soft Matter as a place to publish research on this topic?

Many excellent articles on soft fracture find their way into Soft Matter. The community of researchers interested in this topic really seems to keep an eye on the journal, so I think it’s a great place for our findings relating cutting and tearing in elastomeric solids. It’s a particularly useful venue when results seem to bridge subfields, for instance, continuum mechanics and macromolecular science. 

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

For myself, I am excited about finally starting to understand how various material and geometric elements contribute to an overall failure response in soft solids. This isn’t to say that I think this problem is fully solved or that others did not understand much of it already. I’m still somewhat new to failure so it’s been very rewarding to get to the point that I can describe phenomena in my own words and start to probe new hypotheses. The most challenging thing about my research is that the more I do it, the less I find that I actually know. It can be exciting as well as daunting. 

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

I don’t feel qualified to make any judgement since so many questions can seem incorrectly important or unimportant at any given time. With respect to soft solid fracture, I do think many interesting, fundamental, and likely important details remain to be understood in the failure of even simple, homogeneous solids with respect to predicting time-dependence, the effect of geometry (like needle insertion and puncture), and failure initiation, for example, from macromolecular architecture. Complications only increase when inhomogeneities and hierarchies come into play, as is the case in soft biological tissue. 

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Even if you start behind or are a bit slow, just keep at it. You’ve probably heard the saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but even a single neighborhood wasn’t built in a day. And neighborhoods have a very meaningful impact on those living in them. 

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Soft Matter Emerging Investigator – Lauren Zarzar

Profile picture of Lauren Zarzar

Lauren earned a B.A. in chemistry and a B.S. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, and completed a postdoc at MIT. Currently, she is an assistant professor at Penn State with appointments in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her group’s research interests include the study of responsive systems, active matter, tunable optical materials, and laser direct writing of nanomaterials. She can be found on Twitter @laurenzarzar.

 

Read Lauren’s Emerging Investigator article “Interfacially-adsorbed particles enhance the self-propulsion of oil droplets in aqueous surfactant” and check out all of the 2021 Soft Matter Emerging Investigator articles here.

 

How do you feel about Soft Matter as a place to publish research on this topic?

Soft Matter is a great journal to publish and follow exciting research in areas such as a colloids, polymers, emulsions, and soft interfaces.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

Right now I am excited to understand how to control the motion and interactions between out-of-equilibrium materials such as droplets by using chemical gradients. A challenge is that many of the driving forces (like the chemical gradients, the local interfacial tensions) are very difficult to directly measure or visualize on the microscale. We often have to make inferences based on the observed behaviors and trends we find when doing systematic studies.

In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Living systems are all out of equilibrium, making them highly adaptive. Yet, as chemists, we are very used to thinking about reactions proceeding to an equilibrium state. How do we design chemical systems that can be continuously driven and persist in different non-equilibrium states for long time periods?

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Don’t be afraid to dive into unfamiliar research fields; you don’t have to be an expert to discover something exciting and make an impact.

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