Materials Simulation & Bio-Inspired Design

Materials simulation, visualization, and bio-inspired design accelerates innovative research by the integration of experimentation, theory and

simulation. This requires researchers to work in new ways that rely on advances in

technology and communication. Presently, the focus is on investigating the

properties and transformations of nature-inspired materials and related structures

for applications including sensors and drug delivery, and the design of man-made

materials. Cutting-edge high-performance computing, 3D visualization and

prototyping make the toolset.

 

Responsive polymers provide a means for developing new low-energy-driven sub-molecular switches as nanodevice building blocks. Current efforts involve the synthesis of oligomers and polymers that offer giant thermal contraction to be used in devices with tailored (including zero) thermal expansion, molecular actuators, machine intelligence, thermal energy conversion, and the ability to control stem cell differentiation.