Harvard University and completed postdoctoral research at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work combines precision experiments, advanced imaging, and creative physical modeling to uncover fundamental principles governing disordered and nonlinear systems. His research has applications in materials science, engineering, geophysics, and biological processes. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions and teaching. In addition to his research achievements, Cohen is recognized for his mentorship and for fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex physical problems.

DOUGLAS J. DURIAN is an experimental physicist known for his research in soft condensed matter physics, complex fluids, and disordered materials. He is the Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he leads a research group studying systems such as foams, emulsions, granular materials, and colloids. Durian earned his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and has built an internationally recognized program exploring how everyday “messy” materials flow, jam, and dissipate energy. His work combines precise laboratory experiments with theoretical insights to understand phenomena relevant to industrial processes, geophysics, and biological systems. He is also known for developing innovative experimental techniques, including optical methods to probe motion inside opaque materials. A Fellow of the American Physical Society, Durian has received numerous awards for both research and teaching. In addition to his scientific contributions, he is widely respected as a mentor and educator, committed to training students in interdisciplinary physics and fostering inclusive scientific communities

BARTOSZ A. GRZYBOWSKI graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1995 and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard in 2000. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, he joined the faculty of Northwestern University in 2003 and in 2009 became Kenneth Burgess Professor of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Systems’ Engineering. From 2009 he directed the Department of Energy Non-Equilibrium Research Center at Northwestern. In late 2014 he moved to the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, where he is now a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and also a Group Leader at the IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter. He is also a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. His current research interests include chemical networks and systems, automated synthesis planning, theory of organic synthesis, applications of artificial intelligence to chemistry, autocatalysis, and “thinking” materials.

VARDA HAGH is a chemical engineer and soft-matter scientist whose research focuses on complex fluids, colloidal systems, and bio-inspired materials. She is an

assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she leads a research group investigating how microscopic interactions and structure determine the macroscopic behavior of soft and living materials. Hagh earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her work combines experiments, theory, and advanced imaging and rheological techniques to study systems such as polymer solutions, colloidal suspensions, and active matter. By uncovering the physical principles governing these materials, her research aims to enable new technologies in areas including health care, advanced manufacturing, and energy. She is recognized for interdisciplinary contributions at the interface of chemical engineering, physics, and materials science, as well as for her commitment to teaching and mentoring students in emerging areas of soft matter and complex systems.

POSSU HUANG (often written as Po-Ssu Huang) is a computational biophysicist and bioengineer known for pioneering work in de novo protein design and artificial intelligence–guided molecular engineering. He is an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, where his research focuses on creating entirely new proteins with tailored structures and functions for applications in medicine, biotechnology, and materials science. Huang earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where he was part of the Institute for Protein Design and contributed to breakthroughs in designing stable, novel protein folds not found in nature. His lab integrates physics-based modeling, machine learning, and high-throughput experiments to design proteins that can act as vaccines, therapeutics, molecular sensors, or nanomaterials. His work has been widely recognized for advancing the field of synthetic biology, particularly in the development of precision vaccines and programmable biomolecules. In addition to research, Huang is known for mentoring interdisciplinary trainees at the intersection of biology, computation, and engineering.

XIAOMING MAO is a theoretical physicist and materials scientist known for her work in soft condensed matter, mechanical metamaterials, and the physics of disordered systems. She is a professor of physics at the University of Michigan, where her research focuses on how structure and geometry determine the mechanical properties of materials such as glasses, granular matter, and architected metamaterials. Mao earned her Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and completed postdoctoral research at institutions including Princeton University. Her work bridges physics, engineering, and materials science, with applications ranging from flexible structures to programmable matter. She has received multiple honors for her contributions to theoretical physics and interdisciplinary research, including fellowships from major scientific societies. In addition to her research, Mao is

recognized for her mentorship and commitment to advancing diversity in STEM fields, supporting the development of young scientists across disciplines.

STEFANO MARTINIANI is a physicist and data scientist whose research focuses on statistical physics, complex systems, and machine learning. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at New York University, where he leads a research group studying how large collections of interacting components give rise to collective behavior in systems ranging from granular materials and glasses to biological networks and artificial intelligence models. Martiniani earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge and completed postdoctoral research at institutions including Harvard University. His work combines theoretical modeling, computational methods, and data-driven approaches to understand phenomena such as jamming, optimization, and emergent structure in high-dimensional systems. By bridging physics with computer science and applied mathematics, his research aims to uncover general principles governing complex and disordered systems. He has received recognition for innovative contributions to interdisciplinary science at the interface of physics, data science, and engineering, and he is known for mentoring students working across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

MARK W. TIBBITT is a bioengineer and materials scientist known for his research on biomaterials, drug delivery, and regenerative medicine. He is a professor of macromolecular engineering at ETH Zürich, where he leads a multidisciplinary laboratory focused on designing polymer- and hydrogel-based materials to control biological processes and improve therapeutic outcomes. Tibbitt earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research integrates polymer chemistry, materials science, and bioengineering to develop advanced systems for controlled drug release, tissue repair, and precision medicine. His group also explores how material properties influence cell behavior and healing in living systems. He has received numerous awards recognizing his contributions to biomaterials research and early-career scientific leadership. In addition to his research, Tibbitt is known for mentoring students and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration at the interface of engineering, chemistry, and medicine.

ERIK WINFREE is a computer scientist and bioengineer known for pioneering work in DNA computing, molecular programming, and synthetic biology. He is a professor of computing and mathematical sciences, bioengineering, and biological engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Winfree earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the Caltech, where he demonstrated that DNA molecules can be programmed to perform computation through self-assembly—an

achievement that helped launch the field of algorithmic self-assembly. His research explores how molecular systems can be engineered to process information, form complex structures, and exhibit programmable behaviors, with potential applications in nanotechnology, medicine, and materials science. He is a recipient of numerous honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Grant”) and election to the National Academy of Sciences, recognizing his transformative contributions to computing at the molecular scale. In addition to his research, Winfree is known for mentoring interdisciplinary scientists working at the intersection of computer science, chemistry, and biology.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

M. LISA MANNING (Chair) is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics at Syracuse University. Manning studies the mechanical properties of biological tissues and the failure of disordered materials. Manning’s work to understand how the global properties of tissues impact cell migration and pattern formation provides insight into biological processes such as embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer. Manning works to understand the fundamental excitations in disordered solids generates better predictive models for flow and failure in materials from emulsions to glasses. Manning is an American Physical Society (APS) Fellow, and the recipient of the 2018 APS Maria Goeppert Mayer Award, the 2016 International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Young Investigator Prize, a Simons Investigator award, a Sloan Fellowship, a Cottrell Scholar award, as well as several Syracuse University teaching awards. Manning was the founding director of the BioInspired Institute at Syracuse University from 2019–2023. Manning earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

JAMES J. DE YOREO (NAE) is a Battelle Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and an affiliate professor of materials science and engineering and chemistry at the University of Washington. Following postdoctoral work at Princeton University, De Yoreo became a member of the technical staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1989, where he held numerous positions including director of the Biosecurity and Nanosciences Laboratory and deputy director of the Laboratory Science and Technology Office. De Yoreo joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2007 where he served as the deputy and interim director of the Molecular Foundry. De Yoreo previously served as chief scientist for Materials Synthesis and Simulation Across Scales at PNNL. De Yoreo is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, and the American Conference on Crystal Growth and past president and board member of the Materials Research Society. De Yoreo earned a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University.

and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. A theoretical soft condensed matter physicist, Liu is best known for developing the field of jamming, which provides a unifying conceptual framework for understanding commonalities in systems ranging from atomic and molecular glasses to colloidal glasses and granular matter. Liu’s research combines theory and computation to study soft and living matter. In living matter, Liu’s research focuses on the role of mechanics in biology, with the aim of understanding how new and general collective phenomena, often beyond those typically observed in inanimate soft matter, can emerge at the subcellular, cellular, and tissue levels. In soft matter, Liu and collaborators have shown that jamming produces solids at an opposite pole from perfect crystals, providing a new way of thinking about the nature of rigidity in disordered solids. Liu earned a Ph.D. in the area of critical phenomena from Cornell University.

ARVIND MURUGAN is an associate professor at the University of Chicago. Murugan joined the physics faculty at the University of Chicago after postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) and Harvard University. The major thrust of Murugan’s research is how physical and biological systems can learn from their environmental history and show neural network-like behaviors. Murugan’s current work focuses on learning in molecular self-assembly and mechanical systems and on the biological side, the evolution of molecular error correction and evolution in changing environments. Murugan earned a Ph.D. in high energy physics from Princeton University.

VIOLA VOGEL (NAS/NAE) is a professor in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zürich in Switzerland. Vogel joined the Department of Materials when coming to ETH in 2004. Previously, Vogel worked at the University of Washington in bioengineering (1990–2004) and was the founding director of the Center for Nanotechnology (1997–2003). Vogel pioneered the exploitation of biological motors as molecular shuttles integrated in a range of microfabricated device. Vogel also pioneered the field of molecular mechanobiology and demonstrated early on that proteins can be utilized as mechano-chemical switches. For proof-of-concept purposes, Vogel established a range of in vitro–grown tissue models. Vogel is co-founder of the ETH start-up company Tandem Therapeutics, an incubation stage Swiss biopharmaceutical company bringing a novel precision targeting approach to fibrosis and fibrotic cancers. Vogel serves on the Jury of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, as well as the Board of Trustees, Gordon Research Conference Organization, and was elected to the Leopoldina (2018), Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (2019), and the Royal Academy of Engineering UK (2023). Vogel earned a Ph.D. in physics and physiology from Johann-Wolfgang Goethe University.