Blog
When Surface Tension Beats Gravity: Capillary Forces at the Colloidal Scale
Surface tension is a weak force at human scale and an overwhelming one at the colloidal scale. The crossover has a length, and knowing it explains why a particle trapped at an interface essentially never comes back.
Make the Swimmer Longer and the Swarm Changes: Shape Anisotropy in Active Rods
Light-driven colloidal rods reorganize into swarms, turbulence and jams as their aspect ratio and crowding change. One experiment maps the whole state diagram.
Abstracts Are Open for the 2027 APS Global Physics Summit — Soft Matter Heads to Atlanta
The call for abstracts for the 2027 APS Global Physics Summit runs September 9 to October 22, 2026. If you work on colloids, active matter, or soft condensed matter, this is your window.
Life at Low Reynolds Number: Why a Micron-Scale Swimmer Cannot Coast
Cut a swimmer down to a few microns and inertia disappears entirely. What is left is a world where motion stops the instant the pushing does, and where symmetry decides whether you go anywhere at all.
The Society of Rheology Turns 97: Colloids and Soft Matter Head to Boston This October
The 97th Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology runs October 25-29 in Boston. The poster and Gallery of Rheology deadline is August 14 — here is why colloid and soft matter researchers should look.
A 70-Year-Old Dispersion Law Meets Self-Propelled Swimmers
Does the classic Taylor-Aris dispersion law survive when the particles swim on their own? A microfluidic experiment with live microalgae says yes.
Moving the Magnet Off-Center: Designing What a Colloid Builds
Group member Jonathan Victoria-Camacho shows that shifting a magnetic particle's dipole away from its center changes which structures it assembles into — loops, worms, chains, and more.
Why Some Colloids Stay Suspended and Others Clump: DLVO Theory and the Electric Double Layer
Whether milk stays milky or mud settles out comes down to a contest between two forces acting across nanometers. DLVO theory keeps the score.
Professional Services Opportunity: Project Coordinator
Seeking a highly organized and proactive Project Coordinator to support research and innovation initiatives through project management, proposal development, administrative coordination, and stakeholder engagement in a dynamic academic environment.
How Particle Size Ratio Reshapes a Magnetic Colloidal Suspension
When Particles Synchronize and Swarm — A Tunable Colloidal Swarmalator
APS DFD 2026 Heads to Orlando — Why the Soft Matter and Colloidal Community Should Be There
What the Péclet Number Tells Us About Particle Transport
Oportunidad para Estudiantes: Sé Parte de Iniciativas Filantrópicas
Convocatoria: Se buscan estudiantes subgraduados comprometidos que deseen adquirir experiencia práctica mientras apoyan iniciativas filantrópicas de alto impacto.
From Target to Particle: Inverse Design Comes to Colloidal Self-Assembly
Generative models, surrogate optimization, and reinforcement learning are flipping the colloidal self-assembly workflow from forward to reverse.
One Hundred Years of Colloid Science: The ACS CSSS Centennial Convenes at Delaware
The 100th ACS Colloid and Surface Science Symposium meets June 21–24 at the University of Delaware — a centennial edition with special historical programming and the full breadth of the field on the agenda.
Sensory Delay as a Feature: Janus Microswimmers That Adapt to Light and Chemistry
New Janus microswimmers self-regulate propulsion speed in response to light and dissolved chemicals. A built-in sensory delay makes their localization sharper, not slower.
Member Spotlight: Ajay Vallabh on Tracking Forever Chemicals from the Molecular Scale Up
Diffusiophoresis: When a Concentration Gradient Moves a Particle
A dissolved salt can push colloidal particles without any fluid flow. Diffusiophoresis explains the mechanism — and why it matters across soft matter.
Summer Research Opportunity in Los Angeles: City of Hope Internship 2026
UPR students have the opportunity to spend the summer at City of Hope, gaining hands-on experience in cutting-edge cancer and immunotherapy research. Work alongside world-renowned scientist Dr. Michael A. Caligiuri and contribute to advances in NK cell–based therapies in a top-tier research environment.