UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This is a laboratory course in the physics of soft condensed matter, also known as "squishy physics". Experiments will focus on physical methods to investigate how the microstructure of soft materials and biological materials relate to their bulk mechanical response to deformation using a combination of particle tracking microrheology, imaging, bulk oscillatory shear rheometry and light scattering methods. Analysis of experimental data will require some basic programming skills and use of MATLAB. In the laboratory assignments, students will be expected to be largely self-directed and draw upon published research and will require critical reading and analysis of scientific literature. A major portion of the grade will be based on a final laboratory project which will include written and oral presentation components.

Prerequisites

Graduate degree in Phsyics, Integrated Biosciences, Computational Science or permission of instructor