Announcements of Opportunity
SURF: Announcements of Opportunity
Below are Announcements of Opportunity posted by Caltech faculty and JPL technical staff for the SURF program. Each AO indicates whether or not it is open to non-Caltech students. If an AO is NOT open to non-Caltech students, please DO NOT contact the mentor. Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions!
Remember: This is just one way that you can go about identifying a suitable project and/or mentor. Click here for more tips on finding a mentor. Announcements for external summer programs are listed here.
*Students applying for JPL projects should complete a SURF@JPL application instead of a "regular" SURF application.
*Students pursuing opportunities at JPL must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
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Project: | Studies of soft and living matter in complex environments | ||||||||
Disciplines: | Multidisciplinary, Biophysics, Fluid dynamics, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Rheology, Mechanical Engineering, Biological Engineering, Soft Matter Physics | ||||||||
Mentor: | Sujit Datta, Professor, (CCE), ssdatta@caltech.edu | ||||||||
Mentor URL: | https://dattalab.princeton.edu/ (opens in new window) | ||||||||
Background: |
Soft (“squishy”) and living systems underlie nearly every aspect of our lives: the milk we drink in the morning (a colloidal dispersion), the gel we put into our hair (a polymer mixture), and the plaque that we try to scrub off our teeth (an adhered bacterial community known as a “biofilm”) are all familiar examples. Such systems also hold great promise in helping to solve societal challenges including the need for water security, improved agriculture, and the treatment of disease. Thus, our research focuses on understanding how soft and living systems behave in the complex environments they are typically found or applied in. Examples include soils, sediments, and porous rocks underground, or gels and tissues in our own bodies. We do this by integrating microscopy, microfluidics, materials science, and biophysical characterization. We also complement our experimental work with theoretical and computational modeling, applying ideas from fluid and solid mechanics, colloidal science, polymer physics, statistical mechanics, and network science. Our work focuses on microbial collectives, complex fluids, and porous hydrogels—motivated by challenges in biotechnology, energy, medicine, and sustainability. Our overarching goal is to bridge the gap between idealized lab studies in uniform environments and complex processes in real-world settings. |
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Description: | SURF projects can be either purely theoretical/computational, purely experimental, or a combination of the two. Some projects include (i) studying viscoelastic flow instabilities in porous media, (ii) studying bacterial growth in complex media, (iii) studying bacterial motility in complex media. | ||||||||
References: |
Fluid dynamics: — https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj2619 — https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2320962121 Bacterial biophysics: — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10115-1 – https://dx.doi.org/10.3791/66166 — https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.18.590088 |
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Student Requirements: | General proficiency in math/physics/chemistry/biology | ||||||||
Programs: |
This AO can be done under the following programs:
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