Materials like classical fluids, liquid crystals, polymers, colloids, and emulsions are representative of what are now identified as "soft" as opposed to "hard" materials. They are materials that flow or distort easily in response to shear and other external forces. In spite of their liquid-like properties, they exhibit an astonishing variety of order from the simple orientational order of a nematic liquid crystal to the full periodic crystalline order of liquid crystalline blue phases or block copolymers. Soft materials provide ideal testing grounds for such fundamental concepts as the interplay between order and dynamics or topological defects. They are of primary importance to paint, food, petroleum, and other industries. In addition, most biological materials are soft. This symposium will bring together representatives from around the Delaware Valley to discuss recent advances in Soft Condensed Matter Physics. It will focus in particular on liquid crystals, colloids and emulsions, polymers, and soft materials of biological interest.

Format

There will be a series of talks by members of the Penn, Delaware Valley and broader soft materials communities. There will also be an informal poster session at lunch and in the afternoon.

Speakers Include:

Dennis Discher - PENN
Paul Janmey - PENN
Satyendra Kumar - Kent State
Keng-hui Lin - PENN
Murugappan Muthukumar - UMASS, Amherst
Phil Nelson - PENN
Peter Palffy - Kent State
Dudley Saville - Princeton
Pierre Wiltzius - Lucent Technologies

Registration Information

There is no registration fee for the Symposium. Lunch will be provided, however, please return the attached pre-registration form to be included in the list for lunch.

Please send:

  Name, Title/Affiliation
  Address, City, State, Zip
  Home Phone, Office Phone/Fax
  E-mail address

to:

Kathy Kramer
Assistant to the Director
LRSM, University of Pennsylvania
3231 Walnut St.
Philadelphia Pa 19104-6202

(215) 898-5425, or by fax at (215) 898-8296
kramer@lrsm.upenn.edu

Local organizing committee:

Dan Hammer
Randy Kamien
Tom Lubensky
Arjun Yodh

Accommodations

For those persons requiring overnight accommodation, advance reservations can be made at the following locations:

• Warwick Hotel - $125.00
  Tel:.(215) 735-6000
• International House - $56.00/single.
  (individual room/shared facilities)
  Tel: (215) 387-5125
• Divine Tracy Hotel - $42.00/single.
  (religious organization subject to availability)
  Tel: (215) 382-4310