Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series
The Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series is open to all members of the university. Unless otherwise noted, talks are held on Thursday afternoons at 4:00-5:15 in Mendocino 1015. Schedule is regularly updated as dates, titles, and abstracts are received. Please check back often. To receive updates about the Colloquium Series, please join our Events Mailing List. For past semesters' series, see our archive.
Fall Semester ScheduleSeptember 17, 2009 October 8 October 15 October 22 November 5 November 19 December 3, 2009 December 10, 2009
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Prof. Linda Hirst UC Merced, Department of Physics Self-Assembly of Soft Systems: Research at UC Merced” In this talk I will describe some of the soft matter research going on at UC Merced in the physics department. Soft matter is a branch of condensed matter physics, the study of the physics of materials. Soft systems are different from crystalline solids; their structures are strongly dependent on temperature, often with interesting phases other than the solid to liquid transition. Examples from everyday life include colloids, gels, liquid crystals, and most of the human body. In our group we are working on several "soft" physical systems, including self-assembly in lipid bilayers and the cell membrane, protein networks and liquid crystal materials. I will introduce some of these topics and talk about some new results from our group. |
