Schedule
A list of times and speakers can be found on the schedule page.

Soft Materials
Classical fluids, liquid crystals, polymers, colloids, emulsions, membranes, cells and tissues are representative of what are now identified as "soft" materials. They are materials that flow or distort easily in response to shear and other external forces. They provide a fascinating testing ground for many-body statistical physics, and for the investigation of entropy, defects, phase transitions and other instabilities. Research on these substances is technology driven too. They are attractive starting materials in photonics and lithography, in high-tech ceramics and in biochemical sensing. They affect practical control of fluid rheologies, improving the performances of materials ranging from conventional paints to motor oils to food and cosmetics. Finally, the interplay between biology and soft materials has emerged as a frontier area of science, providing new methods of probing biological systems, new ways of thinking about their properties, and deriving new models for non-biological materials.

Scope of the Symposium
The aim of this symposium is to bring together representatives from the University of Pennsylvania and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces to discuss Soft Matters. The meeting is intended as a seed for bilateral projects and activities, which we hope to expand to include other institutions in Europe and the US. Participation of other members of the Delaware Valley and broader soft materials community will be encouraged through informal discussion and poster sessions at lunch, and in the afternoon.

Registration
There is no registration fee for the Symposium. However, lunch will be provided so please pre-register here to be included in the list for lunch.

Conference Co-chairs
Reinhard Lipowsky and Arjun G. Yodh