MICROGRAVITY STUDIES OF NANOPARTICLES AND TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS IN LIQUID CRYSTAL THIN FILMS NANOPARTICLE / LIQUID CRYSTAL COMPOSITES HAVE CREATED NEW AVENUES FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. FOR EXAMPLE RECENT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MIXTURES OF LIQUID CRYSTALS AND APPROPRIATE SEMICONDUCTING NANOPARTICLES CAN BE EXPLOITED FOR POTENTIAL HIGH EFFICIENCY AND EASILY MANIPULATABLE PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES. BUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRES A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE NANOPARTICLES INCORPORATE AND MOVE WITHIN THE LIQUID CRYSTAL HOW THEY AGGREGATE IN AND AROUND TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS AND HOW THE NANOPARTICLES AFFECT THE DEFECTS THEMSELVES. WE HAVE SHOWN THAT FLUORESCENT CARBON DOTS (FCDS) MAY BE DISPERSED IN LIQUID CRYSTALS AND USED AS A PROBE OF DEFECTS DEMONSTRATING THAT THEY ACCUMULATE IN REGIONS OF HIGH LIQUID CRYSTAL CURVATURE SO AS TO RELIEVE THE LOCAL STRAIN. AS A RESULT THEIR EMITTED LIGHT CAN SERVE AS A QUANTITATIVE INDICATOR FOR THE INTERACTION AND EVOLUTION OF TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS. INTERPRETATION OF THESE INITIAL RESULTS HOWEVER IS COMPROMISED BY THE PRESENCE OF SUBSTRATES WHICH IS REQUIRED IN AN EARTH-BOUND ENVIRONMENT. HERE WE PROPOSE TO PERFORM EXPERIMENTS IN THE ABSENCE OF A CONTAINER BY UTILIZING THE OASIS MODULE ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. BY STUDYING THIN LIQUID CRYSTAL FILMS (IN THE FORM OF BUBBLES) DOPED WITH FCDS IN A MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT WE WILL OBVIATE THE NEED FOR BOUNDING SUBSTRATES THEREBY RENDERING A MUCH SIMPLER SYSTEM FOR INTERPRETATION. IN PARTICULAR WE WILL USE OASIS CAMERAS TO STUDY THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPORT OF THE FCDS IN AND AROUND TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS IN THE SMECTIC-C PHASE OF THE LIQUID CRYSTAL ESPECIALLY CLOSE TO THE SMECTIC-A PHASE TRANSITION TEMPERATURE. THE WORK WILL INVOLVE BOTH EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL COMPONENTS. THE RESULTS WILL PROVIDE A CLEAR PICTURE OF HOW NANOPARTICLES DISTRIBUTE THEMSELVES OVER TIME AS WELL AS HOW DEFECTS IN THE LIQUID CRYSTAL INTERACT.