Conference: Soft Materials, Polymers, and Biomaterials Workshop

With support from the Division of Materials Research Materials Research (DMR), Professors Margaret Gardel (University of Chicago), Nicholas Abbott (Cornell University), and Chinedum Osuji (University of Pennsylvania), are organizing a workshop to identify the critical gaps, essential needs, and emerging opportunities in instrumentation and infrastructure required to keep the United States at the forefront of Soft Materials, Polymers and Biomaterials research in the next decade and beyond. The workshop will consist of a mix of talks and panel discussion by a select group of invited experts and leaders.

The workshop will be open for online participation to engage with the broader research community and other potential stakeholders.

This workshop is one of three in a planned series entitled “From Atoms to Matter – Instrumentation and Infrastructure to Accelerate the Materials Development Continuum,” sponsored by the NSF Division of Materials Research (DMR) in support of Materials Genome Initiative (https://www.mgi.gov). The workshop will engage a modest number of thought-leaders, representing a broad cross-section of the soft materials, polymers, and biomaterials community from the academic, industrial, and governmental sectors.

Participants will identify current limitations in instrumentations, new opportunities and frame a roadmap for the future infrastructure and instruments that will advance the state of knowledge in these materials systems.

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.