Over spring break, I had the opportunity to attend the “50th New England Complex Fluids Workshop” held annually at Yale. My lab professor–Professor Eric Dufresne, who I will be working with this summer–is on the organizing committee for the conference. He thought the workshop would be a good opportunity for me to learn more about the world of Soft Matter Physics.

 It was such an exhilarating experience to be surrounded by top professors in the field of complex fluids from Harvard, Yale, John Hopkins, and many more all in the same room! The day was filled with feature presentations on the topic of “Metallic Glass” and short “Sound Bites,” where professors and post-docs have 3 minutes (and 3 minutes exactly) to summarize their research. Afterwards, professors have the chance to approach other professors and discuss their findings over cookies and tea.

It was very inspiring to be amongst a crowd that I hope to join in the future! I had my fair share of awkward moments when I needed to explain to professors that I was not a post-doc, but rather a freshman just starting out in the lab. Obviously, there were times when I could not follow their discussion. But whenever I did make sense of the science, I couldn’t help but go “cool!” I was particularly excited by recent advancements in self-propelled nanoparticles and the phenomenon of “Structural color” achieved by a crystalline array of nanoparticles.