The Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (ICAM) is an open experiment-based distributed Institute in which scientists in disparate disciplines and from many institutions collaborate for the express purpose of creating new kinds of science by identifying major new research themes in complex adaptive matter and nucleating collaborative research and scientific training that draws from the chemical, physical, and biological viewpoints of these themes. ICAM has 31 branches at academic institutions distributed in the US and internationally. ICAM supports exploratory workshops, Symposia at the Frontiers of Science, a Junior Fellows program, and a web site. In addition, ICAM collaborates activities with the International Institute for Complex and Adaptive Matter (IICAM), one of six NSF supported International Materials Institutes.