Project Mentor: Professor Jim Gilchrist, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Project Description:
How can we control the complex behavior of active soft matter?
Discovering new designs / applications for active granular media. Granular media exist in nature (sand, soil) and industry as raw materials and consumer products, and remain a challenge in both physics and engineering. The Gilchrist Lab has developed magnetically responsive microrollers that behave both as granular materials and swarms of microrobots. We are interested in studying the emergent properties of their collective behavior to develop new applications in biotechnology, energy, and the environment.