Programming Function via Soft Materials (PFvSM)

Our specific aims are to understand and exploit the fundamental interactions of soft materials with energy in diverse forms — including light, thermochemical gradients, and mechanical fields — to create structures with spatially and temporally varied shapes, physical properties, and functionalities. By programming complex behaviors in materials, we will enable new approaches for harnessing energy and transforming the structure and properties of soft and hybrid materials over multiple length scales.