After more than 300 years of study, researchers developed a new way to understand bacteria : Read Story Researchers discovered that bacterial colonies grow in rough shapes, much like crystals, in three dimensions. Read Story Brangwynne wins the Breakthrough Prize for revolutionary view of living cells : Read Story Brangwynne’s research has changed how scientists understand cellular organization by linking biology with materials science and engineering. Read Story Tiny bubbles help create soft robotics : Read Story Princeton researchers used bubble casting to create soft robotics capable of grabbing and lifting a ball when inflated with air. Read Story Fractured artificial rock helps crack a 54-year-old mystery : Read Story Princeton researchers have solved a 54-year-old puzzle about why certain fluids strangely slow down under pressure when flowing through porous materials. Read Story Theory of bubbles lifts cell biology into a new, more quantitative era : Read Story The heady math that describes how bubbles form in a glass of Champagne has inspired a framework for engineering living cells. Read Story 1 / 5 Start animation ▶ ︎ ︎ Soft materials, particularly biological systems are structurally and rheologically complex, with architectures from the scale of molecules to tissues. Researchers in the Princeton Materials Institute explore all aspects of soft materials from their chemical, structural, and thermal properties to their processing into novel and in many cases non-equilibrium states to their applications in areas such as soft robotics or polymer composites. The use of principles from materials science to determine develop new insights for the control of living and bio-inspired materials, which are inherently multicomponent, disordered, and are often out of equilibrium, is a core focus of our community. Associated Faculty Craig B. Arnold Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Vice Dean for Innovation in the Office of the Dean for Research. Co-Leader, Princeton Alliance for Collaborative Research and Innovation. Robert H. Austin Professor of Physics Ian C. Bourg Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. Clifford P. Brangwynne June K. Wu '92 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Director, Princeton Bioengineering Initiative. Pierre-Thomas Brun Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Jannette Carey Associate Professor of Chemistry Minjie Chen Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Stephen Y. Chou Joseph C. Elgin Professor of Engineering. Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Daniel J. Cohen Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Sujit S. Datta Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Emily C. Davidson Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Pablo G. Debenedetti Dean for Research. Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science. Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Jason W. Fleischer Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. John T. Groves Hugh Stott Taylor Chair of Chemistry. Professor of Chemistry. Mikko P. Haataja Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Acting Director, Program in Materials Science and Engineering. Marcus N. Hultmark Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Antoine Kahn Vice Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science. Stephen C. Macaleer '63 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science. Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Andrej Košmrlj Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Kai Li Paul M. Wythes '55 P86 and Marcia R. Wythes P86 Professor in Computer Science. Reza Moini Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Satish C. Myneni Professor of Geosciences Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos Susan Dod Brown Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Glaucio H. Paulino Margareta Engman Augustine Professor of Engineering. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Princeton Materials Institute. Rodney D. Priestley Dean of the Graduate School. Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Robert K. Prud'homme Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Jennifer M. Rampling Associate Professor of History Richard A. Register Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Director, Princeton Materials Institute. Z. Jason Ren Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Acting Director & Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Jean E. Schwarzbauer Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biology. Associate Chair, Department of Molecular Biology. Howard A. Stone Donald R. Dixon '69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Chair, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. James C. Sturm Stephen R. Forrest Professor in Electrical Engineering. Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Co-Director, Program in Plasma Science and Technology. David W. Tank Henry L. Hillman Professor of Neuroscience. Salvatore Torquato Lewis Bernard Professor of Natural Sciences. Professor of Chemistry and the Princeton Materials Institute. Michael A. Webb Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Nan Yao Professor of the Practice, Princeton Materials Institute. Director, Imaging and Analysis Center.
