General News 2021
July 2021:
- Our recent work "Submerged micropatterned structures control active nematic flow, topology, and concentration" is accepted for publication in PNAS, July 2021.
Join us at the ACS-Colloids Meeting 2021:
- Tunable assemblies of gold nanoparticles in smectic liquid crystals confined at curved interfaces. Mackenzie O'Keefe, Jane Bernadette Denise Garcia, Daniel A Beller, Mohamed Amine Gharbi. Wednesday, June 16, 2021.
Join us at the APS March Meeting 2021:
- Confinement of active nematics using virtual boundaries imposed by submerged rectangular structures. Dimitrius Khaladj, Mohamed Amine Gharbi, Seth Fraden, Linda S. Hirst. Monday, March 15, 2021 at 12:18 PM.
- Defect evolution in the smectic-A to nematic phase transition at undulated surfaces. Jane Bernadette Denise Garcia, Mackenzie O'Keefe, Mohamed Amine Gharbi, Daniel A Beller. Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 8:36 AM.
- Directed assembly of gold nanoparticles in smectic liquid crystals at curved interfaces. Mackenzie O'Keefe, Jane Bernadette Denise Garcia, Daniel A Beller, Mohamed Amine Gharbi. Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:12 AM.
- Hierarchical assembly of defects in smectic liquid crystals at curved interfaces. Ryan S. Preusse, Mohamed Amine Gharbi. Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:24 AM.
Hi friends,
Please consider the submission of your recent work to the Special Issue of Applied Sciences Journal: "Liquid Crystal Thin Films: Structures and Applications".
January 2021:
- Vajra Sabhapathy Badha has joined our Group. Welcome! Vajra will work on active matter.
General News 2020
September 2020:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited to present his recent work on the Assembly of Smectic Defects at Undulated Surfaces! Physics Colloquium at UMass Lowell. 09/23/2020.
August 2020:
- Our recent work "Hierarchical assembly of smectic liquid crystal defects at undulated interfaces" is on the cover of the Soft Matter Journal, August 2020.
July 2020:
- Ryan Preusse and Charlotte Kyeremah successfully defends thesis! Congratulations!
July 2020:
- Our recent work "Hierarchical assembly of smectic liquid crystal defects at undulated interfaces" is accepted for publication in Soft Matter, July 2020.
General News 2019
September 2019:
- Our undergraduate student Zhihan Xing has joined our Group. Welcome! Zhihan will work on active matter.
- Dr. Gharbi is presenting his work "Topological defects in ordered materials: A toolkit for the directed assembly of advanced materials" in the Laboratoire Charles Coulomb at the University of Montpellier in France. He will talk about how defects could be "good" for some materials to develop new technological applications!
Physics Seminar, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France, September 02, 2019.
- Dr. Gharbi is presenting his work "Elastocapillary interactions at free standing smectic films" at the CFCL 2019 in Sete in France. He will talk about how the interplay between elasticity and capillarity could give rise to interesting phenomena at LC interfaces!
Sete, France, September 04, 2019.
June 2019:
- Our undergraduate student Abeco Rwakabuba has been selected as the recipient of the McNair Fellowship, Summer 2019 semester. Congratulations! Welcome to the lab!
79th New England Complex Fluids Workshop, UMass Boston:
- We are organizing the New England Complex Fluids Workshop here at UMass Boston. June 07, 2019.
Fifth Annual CSM Showcase, May 17, 2019, UMass Boston:
- Erik Drybread is presenting his work on: "Studying the diffusion of colloidal particles in simple and complex fluids".
- Elizabeth George is presenting her work on: "Engineering defects in smectic liquid crystals at curved interfaces".
APS March Meeting 2019, Boston:
- M.A. Gharbi, "Assembly of silica particles at free standing smectic-A films". Monday, 03/04/2019.
- Ch. Kyeremah, "Exploring textures of a nematic liquid crystal for Fourier Phase Contrast Microscopy". Tuesday, 03/05/2019.
February 2019:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited to present his work on "Engineering defects in ordered materials" in the Department of Engineering at UMass Boston. He will talk about how defects could be "good" for some materials to develop new technological applications!
January 2019:
- Our undergraduate student Elizabeth George has been selected as the recipient of the Oracle Undergraduate Research Fellowship for Spring 2019 semester. Congratulations!
Spring 2019:
- Undergraduate student William Emery joined the Lab. William will focus on the confinement of ordered materials. Welcome!
General News 2018
October 31st, 2018:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited to present his work on "Smectic Flowers" at Tufts University. He will talk about the ability of defects in soft materials direct the assembly of "interesting" objects.
October 5th, 2018:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited to participate at the "Research @ UMB" event. He will highlight his research and the experience with undergraduates in his group.
Fall 2018:
- Graduate students Charlotte Kyeremah and Ryan Preusse joined the Lab. Charlotte will focus on optical properties of Liquid Crystals and Ryan on the confinement of ordered materials. Welcome!
- Undergraduate student Bassma Bawazeer joined the Lab. Bassma will focus on the directed assembly of nanomaterials in ordered phases. Welcome!
Summer 2018:
- Our undergraduate students Elizabeth George and Erik Drybread have been selected as the recipients of the Oracle Undergraduate Research Fellowship for Fall 2018 semester. Congratulations!
- Graduate student Himani Pandita joined the lab to work on image processing and data ananlysis. Welcome!
- Undergraduate students Elizabeth George and Erik Drybread joined the lab to work on the assembly of biomaterials. Welcome!
June 2nd, 2018:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited to participate in the Symposium in Honor of Prof. Mark Sutton at McGill University
(Canada). He will talk about the ability of forces in soft matter to direct the assembly of functional nanomaterials.
April 12th, 2018:
- Dr. Gharbi presented his research activities in the Department of Physics at UMass Boston. His talk focused on the "Assembly of Biomaterials in Ordered Fluids."
March 27th, 2018:
- Dr. Gharbi is invited by the Society of Physics Students to present his research activities in his Lab.
Title of the talk: "Imperfections in Soft Matter: A New Tollkit to Direct Assembly of Advanced Materials."
January 2018:
- Godsgift Omere joined the Lab to work on "Big Data Fundamentals". Welcome!
- Dr. Gharbi officially joined the Department of Physics at UMass Boston as an Assistant Professor of Physics.
January 2018:
- Our recent work "Elastocapillary driven assembly of particles at free-standing smectic-A films" is accepted for publication in Langmuir, January 2018.