During the 2023–24 academic year, the CMSA will be hosting a seminar on Active Matter, organized by Farzan Vafa. This seminar will take place bi-weekly on Mondays at 12:30 – 1:30 pm (Eastern Time). The meetings will take place in Room G02 at the CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138, and some meetings will take place virtually on Zoom or be held in hybrid formats.

To learn how to attend, please fill out this form, or contact Farzan Vafa (fvafa@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu).

The schedule will be updated as talks are confirmed.

  • Active chemical reactions in phase-separating systems

    Virtual

    Active Matter Seminar   Speaker:  Jonathan Bauermann, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems Title: Active chemical reactions in phase-separating systems Abstract: Motivated by the existence of membrane-less […]

  • The Role of Orientational Order in Development

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Mark Bowick, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UCSB Title: The Role of Orientational Order in Development Abstract: Morphogenesis, the process through which genes generate form, establishes tissue […]

  • Control of actin cable length by decelerated growth and network geometry

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Shane McInally, Brandeis Title: Control of actin cable length by decelerated growth and network geometry Abstract: The sizes of many subcellular structures are coordinated with cell size […]

  • Competition at the front of expanding populations

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Mehran Kardar, MIT Title: Competition at the front of expanding populations Abstract: When competing species grow into new territory, the population is dominated by descendants of successful […]

  • Insights from single cell lineage trees

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Sahand Hormoz, Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Title: Insights from single cell lineage trees Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss two recent projects from my […]

  • Strongly driven mixtures and membranes: Out of equilibrium surprises 

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Max Lavrentovich, Worcester State University Title: Strongly driven mixtures and membranes: Out of equilibrium surprises Abstract: The more prosaic cousin of active matter, driven inactive matter, is […]

  • Scaling behavior and control of nuclear wrinkling

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Nicolas Romeo (UChicago) Title: Scaling behavior and control of nuclear wrinkling Abstract: The cell nucleus is enveloped by a complex membrane, whose wrinkling has been implicated […]

  • Active structures and flows in living cells

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Michael Shelley (Flatiron) Title: Active structures and flows in living cells Abstract: Flows in the fluidic interior of living cells can serve biological function or act as […]

  • Directed motion in active matter: Frictiotaxis and flocking

    CMSA Room G10 CMSA, 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States

    Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Ricard Alert, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems Title: Directed motion in active matter: Frictiotaxis and flocking Abstract: A key feature of active matter is its ability to move directionally, […]