An introduction to soft matter for students with background in materials science, chemistry, and physics. This course covers general aspects of structures, properties, and applications of soft materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, amphiphiles, gels, and biomaterials. Emphasis on chemistry and forces related to molecular self-assembly. Topics include forces, energies, kinetics in material synthesis, growth and transformation; methods for preparing synthetic materials; formation, assembly, phase behavior, and molecular ordering of synthetic soft materials; structure, function, and phase transition of natural materials such as nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids; techniques for characterizing the structure, phase, and dynamics of soft materials; application of soft materials in nanotechnology. Meets with ENG BE and MS 504; students may not receive credit for both.

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