Each of the two annual national meetings of the American Chemical Society includes several symposia in the Physical Chemistry Division. The topics of these symposia represent some of the most exciting areas of physical chemistry and chemical physics research. This year one of these featured symposia is Dynamics and Jamming in Complex Environments. The dynamics of particles in crowded and complex environments is intriguing from fundamental and applied points of view. Indeed, crowding determines particle dynamics in many physical, chemical, and biological systems, especially those far from equilibrium. Examples include liquid-to-solid transitions, dynamics in viscous liquids and particulate systems, and dynamics of biomolecules in living cells. Such physics is also of applied interest: indeed, at stake is our ability to design new materials and predict their static and dynamic properties. Inhomogeneity and lack of periodicity limits the utility of conventional bulk experiments to detail molecular motions in these systems. Moreover, such experiments, as well as direct computational studies, are complicated by the enormous range of dynamics displayed by these systems. Emerging experimental, simulation-based, and theoretical approaches to investigating these complex systems can address questions that have evaded clear answers about the nature of these slow relaxations, broadly termed glassy dynamics, and the glass transition despite decades of effort. The co-organizers of this symposium request funds to help defray registration and travel costs for speakers and poster presenters at this meeting. In particular, these funds will be used primarily for graduate student and postdoctoral presenters. The symposium will bring together diverse scientists: they are diverse in their areas of research, in their chosen experimental and/or theoretical tools, and in their nationality, age, and gender. In particular, members of underrepresented groups have been recruited to participate via presentation of both invited and contributing talks - advertisements featuring such speakers then, in turn, encourage additional participation from members of these groups as attendees and poster presenters at the symposium. The set of invited speakers represent a much broader community than those typically present at conferences on glasses, which tend to focus on either molecular glasses or soft matter or granular systems and do not generally include both experimentalists and theorists. The support requested will broaden the community participating in this symposium and in turn encourage new synergies between researchers in diverse communities. The chief goals of this symposium are (1) exploring the commonalities in the various systems in which crowding is an important determinant of dynamics and (2) continuing to develop a common language with which to discuss glassy behavior.
This award helped support a symposium at the Fall 2012 meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Each year two national meetings of the ACS are held and each of these meetings hosts several symposia that cover some of the most exciting areas of current chemistry research. This award helped support one of the featured symposia in the Physical Chemistry Division, entitled Dynamics and Jamming in Complex Environments. Intellectual Merit The dynamics of particles in crowded and complex environments is intriguing from fundamental and applied points of view. Indeed, crowding determines particle dynamics in many physical, chemical, and biological systems, especially those far from equilibrium. Examples include liquid-to-solid transitions, dynamics in viscous liquids and particulate systems, and dynamics of biomolecules in living cells. Conventional experiments and computational studies are of limited utility in elucidating details of molecular or particulate behavior in these environments because these systems are very heterogeneous and include dynamics covering an enormous range of timescales (spanning up to seventeen orders of magnitude). Emerging experimental, simulation-based, and theoretical approaches to investigating these complex systems can address fundamental questions that have evaded clear answers about the nature of these slow relaxations, broadly termed glassy dynamics, and the glass transition despite decades of effort. This symposium brought together leading experimentalists and theorists from diverse communities who study the glassy dynamics that are often found in complex environments. The chief goals of the symposium were (1) exploring the commonalities in the diverse systems in which crowding is an important determinant of dynamics and (2) continuing to develop a common language with which to discuss glassy behavior as it exists in a wide range of systems including small molecule glass formers, polymers, granular and other particulate systems, and proteins. Broader Impacts The symposium brought together scientists diverse in their areas of research, in their chosen experimental and/or theoretical tools, and in their nationality, age, and gender. The set of invited speakers represented a broader community than those typically present at conferences on glasses, which tend to focus on either molecular glasses or soft matter or granular systems and do not generally include large numbers of both experimentalists and theorists. Attending an American Chemical Society National Meeting, which has relatively high membership and registration costs in addition to significant travel and lodging costs, can be prohibitively expensive. This is especially true for attendees based abroad and for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. However, such conferences are crucial for developing scientists: attending such conferences spurs creativity, offers forums to present and hear groundbreaking research, and offers networking opportunities. For this reason, the requested funds were used almost entirely to defray costs associated with attending the conference for graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and speakers from abroad.
