Active Matter and Complex Media

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

Active matter refers to collectives of self-propelled units, e.g., birds, fish, humans, bacteria, drones. The units tend to self-organize in various structures, without any external guidance. For example, birds flock and bacteria swarm. The agility and versatility of active matter (as seen in the starling murmurations) is inspiring scientists and engineers to develop materials with similar properties. This summer school will introduce graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to the latest advances in this rapidly evolving field. This is a project to support expenses related to the registration and travel of young scientists and students from the US to attend the summer school on " Active Matter and Complex Media" to be held in Cargese (Corsica Island, France) in September 2022. About 15 US participants (graduate students and post-docs) are expected to be supported through this grant, who would not otherwise be able to attend. Active fluids are those where the presence of active particles that can self-assemble, or can move and pack in different ways, give different macroscopic properties to the fluid. The focus of the summer school will be on areas that are very research active, including microorganism swimming, collective behavior of motile colloids and active particles in complex and crowded environment (such as porous media). The aims of the proposed workshop are to address challenges in the modeling of active (synthetic, biomimetic, and living) matter, to discuss approaches to overcome these challenges, and to educate and inform young scientists (mainly graduate students), who will be attending not only lectures on techniques and fundamentals, but also seminars on current research topics given by internationally known experts in the field, from the US and from around the world. The conference has a strong interdisciplinary character involving researchers from different disciplines (physics, engineering, applied mathematics, biology) as well as different generations (expert senior scientists and students). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.