MASM 25: Dynamic Day of Discovery in Soft Matter

Posted in News Story

On Friday, May 30, 2025, the 25th Mid-Atlantic Soft Matter Workshop (MASM) convened at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, bringing together scientists from across academia, industry, and national laboratories. The daylong event celebrated 18 years of collaboration and exploration in the field of soft matter—an area of research that bridges physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to understand and harness the behavior of materials like polymers, colloids, foams, gels, and active systems.

From conversations over coffee to cutting-edge presentations in the Glass Pavilion, MASM 25 was filled with opportunities for attendees to connect, exchange ideas, and discover new directions in soft materials research.

Soundbite Talks

Soundbites are one of the hallmarks of MASM and provide everyone (mostly students) the opportunity to present their work through rapid fire (3-4 minute) presentations in front of the entire audience. There were over 40 soundbites given at MASM25! 

Featured Invited Talks

A highlight of the day was the lineup of invited speakers, who shared exciting research at the frontiers of soft matter science:

Igor Aronson (Penn State University)

  • Vortex Reversals in Confined Bacterial Suspensions
  • Aronson explored how bacterial collectives behave in confined geometries, revealing mechanisms behind spontaneous changes in vortex direction.

Shengfeng Chen (Virginia Tech)

  • Diffusiophoresis and Stratification in Drying Colloidal Mixtures
  • Chen discussed how subtle gradients during drying processes can lead to complex spatial organization in colloidal films.

Sambeeta Das (University of Delaware)

  • Active Micromotors for Organoid Synthesis and Cellular Patterning
  • Das presented innovative work on self-propelled micromotors and their potential applications in biomedical engineering.

Arnold Mathijssen (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Bacterial Upstream Swimming in Complex Fluids and Environments
  • Mathijssen examined how bacterial motion is influenced by fluid properties, shedding light on behaviors relevant to both health and industry.

Rebecca Schulman (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Biochemical Networks for Robust Patterning and Distributed Decision-Making
  • Schulman showcased synthetic biochemical systems designed to mimic decision-making and spatial organization in living tissues.

Each talk sparked insightful questions and lively discussions, reinforcing MASM’s role as a cornerstone of the Mid-Atlantic soft matter community. As the field continues to evolve, events like MASM play a vital role in fostering the cross-disciplinary thinking and collaboration that drive scientific progress. Learn more about MASM here.