Rational Design of Multi-Scale Materials and Their Emerging Applications

June 18 - 23, 2017

Chairs Linda S. Hirst and Torsten Hegmann

Vice Chairs Ivan I. Smalyukh and Dirk J. Broer

Conference Description

The 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystals will highlight outstanding research in liquid crystal physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering with a particular focus on the design and application of new liquid-crystal-based materials. This 24th GRC on Liquid Crystals (held continually since 1972) will provide a venue for scientists to present and discuss both fundamental and applied research on all aspects of liquid crystals, while identifying and emphasizing mutually beneficial connections to other research disciplines such as biology, medicine, mesoscale and metamaterials, photovoltaics, and nanotechnology. The scope of this conference will include traditional topics as well as cross-disciplinary and related emerging topics with an even balance of experimental, theoretical and computational work.

Sessions will include presentations on synthesis and characterization of new liquid crystal molecules, novel liquid crystal phases, polymeric and elastomeric liquid crystals, electro-optic phenomena, defect structures and self-assembly. Cross-disciplinary and related emerging topics will introduce and discuss the current and potential role of liquid crystals in nanoscience and technology, drug delivery, photovoltaics, chiral recognition, biologically and medically relevant materials, metamaterials, photonics, materials based on mesoscale assembly, and other liquid crystal-matter/human interactions.

Participants will enjoy invited presentations from prominent and well established scientific leaders as well as emerging junior scientists from both academia and industry with a particularly wide range of expertise and research foci. The program will additionally include a young investigator session featuring presentations by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and a Monday afternoon Power Hour designed to address the issues women face working in science. Free time and evening poster sessions will provide excellent opportunities for additional networking between students as well as junior and senior researchers. The conference will maintain the GRC tradition of creating an inclusive atmosphere that fosters collaboration and new connections between scientists of different levels and between scientific fields.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Liquid Crystals (GRS)" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff / Welcome from the GRC Chair
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	Keynote Session: Self Assembly and Supramolecular Liquid Crystals Discussion Leader: Verena Gortz (Lancaster University, United Kingdom)
7:40 pm - 8:25 pm	Katsuhiko Ariga (WPI International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), NIMS, Japan) "Manual Handling of Molecular Machines, DNAs and Cells at Dynamic Interfaces"
8:25 pm - 8:35 pm	Discussion
8:35 pm - 9:20 pm	Helen Gleeson (University of Leeds, United Kingdom) "Novel Self Assembly in Bent Core Liquid Crystals"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Biological and Medical Applications of Liquid Crystals Discussion Leader: Francesca Serra (Johns Hopkins University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:35 am	Cyrus Safinya (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) "Assembly in Neuronal Systems by Intrinsically Disordered Protein Tau"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am	Michel Mitov (CEMES, CNRS, France) "Cholesteric Micro-Mirrors in the Carapace of Beetle Chrysina gloriosa"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:35 am	Cecilia Leal (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) "Cellular Delivery of Liquid Crystal Nanoparticles"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:20 pm	Robijn Bruinsma (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) "Orientational Phase Transitions: From Nematics to Capsid Assembly"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm	Power Hour The GRC Power Hour is an optional informal gathering open to all meeting participants. It is designed to help address the challenges women face in science and support the professional growth of women in our communities by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring. Organizer: Helen Gleeson (University of Leeds, United Kingdom)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Liquid Crystals and Nanomaterials Discussion Leader: Jan Lagerwall (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm	Yann Molard (University of Rennes 1, France) "Functional Hybrid Nano Materials"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm	Orlando Guzman (Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico) "Self-Assembled Structures in Liquid Crystal Microdroplets and Fibers"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm	Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm	Ingo Dierking (University of Manchester, United Kingdom) "Thermotropic and Lyotropic Liquid Crystals with Graphene Oxide"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	New Phases and Phenomena Discussion Leader: Antal Jakli (Kent State University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:35 am	Charles Rosenblatt (Case Western Reserve University, USA) "Washing Away Oily Streak Defects in the Sm-A Phase with Soapy Streaks in the Sm-C Phase"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am	Chenhui Zhu (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) "Probing Liquid Crystal Helices with Resonant Soft X-Ray Scattering: From B4, NTB to Blue Phase and Beyond"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:35 am	Robert Lemieux (University of Waterloo, Canada) "Understanding 'de Vries-Like' Liquid Crystals — Recent Developments"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:20 pm	Sabine Laschat (Institut fuer Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, Germany) "Liquid Crystalline Boron Compounds: How Serendipity Turned Cross Coupling Reagents into New Mesogens"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Liquid Crystal Materials at the Mesoscale Discussion Leader: Linda Hirst (University of California, Merced, USA)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm	Timothy Atherton (Tufts University, USA) "Shape Evolution in Liquid Crystals"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm	Shu Yang (University of Pennsylvania, USA) "Dynamic and Reversible Tuning of Nanoparticle Assemblies in the Topological Defects of Liquid Crystals"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm	Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm	Nicholas Abbott (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) "Molecular Self-Assembly in Topological Defects"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Optics and Photonics Discussion Leader: Oleg Lavrentovich (Kent State University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:35 am	Michael Escuti (North Carolina State University, USA) "Taming Reactive Mesogens for Nanoscale-Period Bragg Polarization Gratings, and the Exciting Opportunities Thereof"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am	Timothy Wilkinson (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) "Liquid Crystal Nanophotonics"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:35 am	Philip Bos (Kent State University, USA) "Large Aperture Liquid Crystal Based Lenses"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:20 pm	Jonathan Whitmer (University of Notre Dame, USA) "Toward Molecular Engineering of Liquid Crystal Elasticity"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Young Investigator Presentations Discussion Leader: Lisa Tran (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	Kunyun He (ESPCI Paris, France) "Metastability in Nematic Liquid Crystal Shells"
7:45 pm - 7:50 pm	Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:05 pm	Christopher Burke (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) "Modeling Intra-Domain Textures and Chirality Transfer in Block Copolymer Melts with Polar and Nematic Segment Ordering"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:25 pm	Ayhan Duzgun (Kent State University, USA) "Skyrmions in Liquid Crystals: Phase Diagrams and Dynamics"
8:25 pm - 8:30 pm	Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:45 pm	JungHyun Noh (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg) "Self-Assembly Strikes Back: The Multifaceted Response to Photopolymerization in Liquid Crystal Shells"
8:45 pm - 8:50 pm	Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:05 pm	Marianne Prevot (Kent State University, USA) "Use of Biocompatible, Biodegradable and Responsive 3D LCE Foams for the Design of Human Brain 3D Model Tissue"
9:05 pm - 9:10 pm	Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:25 pm	Danqing Liu (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands) "Dynamic Surface Topographies Driven by Electric Field"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair; Fill in Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Site and Scheduling Preferences; Election of the Next Vice Chair
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Sensors and Actuators Discussion Leader: Randall Kamien (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
9:00 am - 9:35 am	Verena Gortz (Lancaster University, United Kingdom) "Synthesis and Properties of Responsive Liquid Crystalline Polymer Particles"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am	Christian Santangelo (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) "Packing, Curvature and Optimal Maps: Lifting 2D Sheets into 3D Structures"
10:20 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:35 am	Rafael Verduzco (Rice University, USA) "Patterning and Processing Liquid Crystal Elastomers for Active Materials"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm	Karla Gutierrez Cuevas (Kent State University, USA) "Mesogen-Coated Nanoparticles in Self-Organized Helical Superstructures for the Development of Adaptive Windows"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm	Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm	Noel Clark (University of Colorado Boulder, USA) "Watson-Crick Duplex Stacking of Nucleobase Monomers: Liquid Crystal Ordering of Mononucleoside Triphosphates in Aqueous Solution"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm	Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Keynote Session: LC Nano Composites Discussion Leader: Timothy Atherton (Tufts University, USA)
7:30 pm - 8:15 pm	Linda Reven (McGill University, Canada) "LC Nanocomposites: Tuning the LC-NP Surface Interactions"
8:15 pm - 8:25 pm	Discussion
8:25 pm - 9:10 pm	Eugenia Kumacheva (University of Toronto, Canada) "Colloidal Liquid Crystal in Spherical Confinement"
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm	Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Closing Remarks
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure