Ryan Poling-Skutvik
@rpslab.bsky.social
Associate Professor | Chemical Engineering and Physics | University of Rhode Island | Responsive, multifunctional soft materials 🏳️🌈 (he/him) https://web.uri.edu/soft-matter-lab/
Thanks to one of my favorite podcasts @makinggayhistory.bsky.social for bringing this interview to my attention. It’s fascinating to hear such honest, open, and frankly human questions to a trans person before modern politicization and polarization. I thoroughly recommend their entire backlog too!
Christine Jorgensen | Making Gay History
makinggayhistory.org
We already do this and companies who want them are happy to pay for PhD student interns. Why do precious and limited NSF funds need to be deployed for this? Most PhD student pursue industry jobs anyways - that has always been true. Use NSF funds to support basic science that industry wont support!
Jonathan Wosen@jonathanwosen.bsky.social · 2w agoWith academic jobs few and far between, the NSF is testing a new approach to graduate education: Giving Ph.D. students industry experience — and dollars — as part of their training. For more, see my latest for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/h...
More on the Trump / Kratsios "Golden Age of Science" report, from @theverge.com
The tech-broification of American science has officially begun
Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ of American science starts with dismantling it, while funneling billions into AI.
theverge.com
Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
New White House plan reimagines American science — more $$ for AI, less for universities and the “life sciences.” Written by Trump’s science adviser, who is a Silicon Valley tech guy, not a scientist. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
A father in Idaho, speaking to police after his child died by suicide: “There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids. The whole fucking country. The whole fucking administration, every single fucking day.” Please read this important story by @joyurcaba.bsky.social
Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.
The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.
nbcnews.com
Not the most pressing issue of our day but really getting tired of all these clearly AI-generated journal covers. Makes me completely disinterested in the science.
The dire state of NSF just keeps getting worse and worse. www.science.org/content/arti...
Exclusive: NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders say
Unexpected shift in funds has meant sharp drop in grants this fiscal year
science.org
Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.
elizabethginexi.bsky.social@elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 2mo agoSummary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
The leadership and clarity of @MIT President Sally Kornbluth www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/26/o...
America built the world’s greatest research engine. Now it’s shrinking. - The Boston Globe
At public and private universities across the country, high-impact science is being damaged and derailed.
bostonglobe.com
New paper out today in @pubs.acs.org Macro Letters! Grafted polymers functionalize interfaces but grafting leads to confined dynamics. Mobile sites, as would be the case for polymers absorbed on emulsion drops or lipid bilayers, relax that confinement even though grafted structure remains constant.
Mobile Grafts Allow Polymers to Escape Confinement
Polymers attached to spherical particles are widely used in applications such as nanocomposites, drug delivery, and interfacial modification. In these systems, curvature-induced variations in monomer ...
pubs.acs.org
It’s incredibly disheartening (and scary) to watch the US squander one of our biggest strengths and intellectual capital
Bob Kopp@bobkopp.net · 3mo agoFor those who prefer text to video:
Two open postdoctoral positions in my group at DAMTP, at University of Cambridge: Cell Biophysics & Biological Active Matter: www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/55046 Active & Intelligent Matter: www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/55141 Repost is much appreciated ! 🙏🏼 #Postdoc #CellBioPhysics #Robots #ActiveMatter
I had the opportunity to talk about the impacts of the upgraded optics and computing power at Advanced Photon Source. These national lab resources are incredibly valuable for our work identifying dynamics in complex soft materials. Be on the look out for papers once we process our >TBs of data!
Data analysis at the speed of light source experiments
The integration of Advanced Photon Source experiments with Argonne Leadership Computing Facility supercomputers enables scientists to analyze data in near real time, guiding their work and acceleratin...
anl.gov
Slaughtering our golden goose: massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration
Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.
nature.com
Another year, another round of asking "Why does AIChE need my abstract so early?"
I’m embarrassed to admit that I can never get COLLOID in spelling bee…
Job Opening: Full-Time Associate Editor, PRL We seek a dynamic and personable individual with postdoctoral experience in soft matter and statistical physics, to join our close-knit team of editors running the world’s leading physics journal. aps.applicantstack.com/x/detail/a27...
I am looking to hire PhD students to join our Multiphase & Multiscale Flow Lab in Mechanical Engineering @univofmaryland.bsky.social Background in ME, Physics, ChemE, Civil (or related), interest in fluid mechanics/soft matter, and hands-on lab work are key. Please help spread the word!
Fresh off the press in @pubs.acs.org! Our group aims to understand the phase behavior of polymer-grafted nanoparticles. Here, we find that: 1. The RATE of aggregation is a more precise metric to define phase boundaries than size, and 2. PGNPs aggregate like globular polymers rather than colloids.
Stability and Anomalous Aggregation in Suspensions of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles
Polymer-grafted nanoparticles (PGNPs) are a class of hybrid materials with properties intermediate between those of polymer and colloidal systems. Here, we assess how polymer conformation and solvent ...
pubs.acs.org
I have the great privilege to return to my alma mater @cooperunion.bsky.social to give a seminar today. It’s been over a decade since I was last on campus and it still brings back so many memories. I’m going to be discussing our work on biomaterials and soft matter physics.
It's been my pleasure to host Blanca Sesé this semester working in my group! She has joined us from the University of Zaragoza through our partnership in the IAESTE program and is working on building thermally responsive hydrogels from cellulose. web.uri.edu/engineering/...
International STEM internship opportunities through global exchange program partnership
University of Rhode Island students in STEM fields can select from a robust list of international internships from around the globe with new affiliation with the International Association for the Exch...
web.uri.edu
A good summary from @npr.org on the impact of recent political attacks on the university education and research system Casualties of Trump’s War on Higher Ed one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5545...
🔊 Listen Now: Casualties of Trump’s War on Higher Ed
Up First From NPR on NPR One | 28:38
one.npr.org
Our NIH ESTEEMED grant may have been reinstated this year, but that doesn't mean the impacts to our students have disappeared. Nor does it come with any guarantees... Thanks @rhodeislandcurrent.com for the follow up coverage and focus on the students bearing the brunt of these decisions.
Rhode Island Current@rhodeislandcurrent.com · 11mo agoRoller coaster may continue for NIH-funded program at URI that supports students in biomedicine or engineering fields. By @ohnocastro.bsky.social rhodeislandcurrent.com/2025/09/16/o...
“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.
Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer
America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.
nyti.ms
RPS Lab celebrating the start of the year watching the Rhode Island Football Club
