Our latest, a perspective on characterizing multiscale dynamics in colloidal nanoparticle gels (Phys Rev E, open access), led by William Brackett (@umich.edu) w Zach Sherman (Univ. of Washington), Felix Lehmkühler (DESY), and @deliamilliron.bsky.social (@umich.edu) journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...

Characterizing emergent multiscale dynamics in colloidal nanoparticle gels

Characterizing the dynamics of nanoparticle gel networks demands a spatiotemporal resolution that no single technique can provide. This Perspective describes the opportunities to address this challeng...

journals.aps.org

It's been a privilege to be among the first researchers on this upgraded beamline, which is ideal for probing dynamics and structural evolution of our nanocrystal gels! Check out the paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Universal progression of structure and dynamics in colloidal nanocrystal gels during salt-accelerated aging

Salt modulates gelation in colloidal nanocrystal networks, revealing a universal pathway across time and length scales.

science.org

Advanced Photon Source@advancedphoton.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Science Friday! The first paper from the upgraded 8-ID beamline at the APS comes from the University of Texas at Austin. Researchers there uncovered the correlation between salt concentration and the gelation process. Read more below! www.aps.anl.gov/APS-News/202...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... represents a step toward advancing our understanding of complex systems and developing new tools for AI and biological intelligence. Thank you very much to National Science Foundation (NSF) and University of Michigan COMPASS: Center for Complex Particle Systems!

Decoding collective dynamics and complexity in nanoparticle assemblies using graph theory

Being intermediate in scale between molecules and colloids, nanoparticles combine characteristics of both. The structure of their self-assembled states combining order and disorder is difficult to qua...

science.org

This is why I keep saying that part of the story in my new book is that thinking about weird abstract ideas like quantum physics is an important part of democracy www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817...

Asheesh Kapur Siddique@asheeshks.org · 3mo ago

Conversations about the future of higher education in the US need to start from the unfortunate, basic fact that both Democrats and Republicans agree with Reagan that government should not subsidize curiosity driven learning and inquiry.

Disorder is inevitable in colloidal assembly. Sharing our latest in ACS Photonics, led by Tanay Paul and Allison Green in collaboration with @deliamilliron.bsky.social, exploring the role of structural disorder in extreme light-matter coupling of plasmonic nanocrystals pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Plasmon Polaritons in Disordered Nanoparticle Assemblies

Multilayer assemblies of metal nanoparticles can act as photonic structures, where collective plasmon resonances hybridize with cavity modes to create plasmon-polariton states. For sufficiently strong coupling, plasmon polaritons qualitatively alter the optical properties of light-matter systems, with applications ranging from sensing to solar energy. However, results from experimental studies have raised questions about the role of nanoparticle structural disorder in plasmon-polariton formation and the strength of light-matter coupling in plasmonic assemblies. Understanding how disorder affects optical properties has practical implications since methods for assembling low-defect nanoparticle superlattices are slow and scale poorly. Modeling realistic disorder requires large system sizes, which is challenging using conventional electromagnetic simulations. We employ Brownian dynamics simulations to construct large-scale nanoparticle multilayers with controlled structural order. We investigate their far- and near-field optical response using a superposition T-matrix method with two-dimensional periodic boundary conditions. We find that while structural disorder broadens the polaritonic stop band and the near-field hot-spot distribution, the polariton dispersion and coupling strength remain unaltered. To understand the effects of nanoparticle composition, we consider assemblies with Drude model particles mimicking gold or tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals. Assemblies of ITO nanocrystals, which have lower carrier concentrations, exhibit ultrastrong coupling, in contrast to Au nanoparticle multilayers that display deep strong coupling. Finally, we demonstrate that while computationally efficient mutual polarization method calculations employing the quasistatic approximation modestly overestimate the strength of collective plasmon coupling in these assemblies, they reproduce the polariton dispersion relations determined by electrodynamic simulations.

pubs.acs.org

Since 2022, my colleagues and I have been targeted by political attacks. Early on, we worried that political actors would specifically target our projects & universities for defunding. But in the end, they came after everyone. The strategy of keeping heads down was never the right one.

Laura Helmuth@laurahelmuth.bsky.social · last yr.

Great article with lots of perspectives from scientists who are scared to speak out — and other scientists who are scared of what will happen if they don't. Trump & Musk & Kennedy are devastating U.S. research and setting progress back decades www.science.org/content/arti... on @science.org

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress

I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

time.com

Science article with perspectives from NIH insiders www.science.org/content/arti... 1/n

NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything’

After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

science.org

A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes: *7.6% cut in GDP *8.6% cut in federal revenues *equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer

Alondra Nelson@alondra.bsky.social · last yr.

"If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research." The devastating cuts to science funding aren't just academic, they threaten our livelihoods and wellbeing. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...

Important info here on the details of how they plan to dismantle NIH and NSF. They are counting on scientists to keep their heads down and stay “neutral,” when the only hope is to organize and stand up for science and equal opportunity to do science donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...

The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster

An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do

donmoynihan.substack.com

I and my colleagues, @carpenterlab.bsky.social and Carol Greider, wrote an op-ed for our local media site, @lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social, about the recent cancellations of NIH funded training programs meant to broaden participation in science at UCSC: lookout.co/trumps-escal...

Trump’s escalating attacks on research and education are hurting UC Santa Cruz – the public needs to act now

The Trump administration’s attack on scientific research will deeply affect UC Santa Cruz, write three eminent UCSC professors, including one who won a Nobel Prize for her work. Since Donald Trump too...

lookout.co

much has been said about the NYT's framing of the growth of the government-university research complex as a story of higher ed "dependency" on government it's a silly and ahistorical way to characterize a carefully thought out national strategy, one imagined by 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...

How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government

For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.

nytimes.com

It me

David M. Perry@lollardfish.bsky.social · last yr.

What even is a university for, and will leadership at the University of Minnesota fight for it? My latest from @startribune.com. (Gift)

"Faculty at Michigan State University have become the latest in the Big Ten to urge conference leaders to create a "mutual defense compact" statenews.com/article/2025...

MSU faculty join call for Big Ten 'mutual defense compact' against Trump administration - The State News

Under the compact, participating institutions would “commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund” that would “provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution un...

statenews.com

Ok so yeah, this has quickly become the #1 misunderstanding about the canceled grants the grants are not “subsidies” or “entitlements” to Harvard or Princeton or whatever they aren’t going into universities’ endowments they are competitive contracts won by these universities to do research

Maya Sen@mayasen.bsky.social · last yr.

There is a PR narrative quickly emerging about “entitlement” of elite universities, as if this $ is some sort of subsidy Harvard & others must counter this quickly The $ doesn’t flow into Harvard’s coffers - this is grant money, most of which goes to research the govt has agreed has social value

“I’m going to keep trying to maintain the life that I have here,” a Nigerian student says. “But what life am I fighting for if people don’t want me here?” International students in U.S. are reeling from terminated records and revoked visas. My latest for @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

International students in the U.S. are reeling amid revoked visas and terminated records

The moves also affect a temporary work program heavily used by STEM graduates

science.org

University of California, what’s up girl? I know you’re public, but you’re big & beautiful. Also, the #1 employer in the state.

DrDinD.bsky.social@drdind.bsky.social · last yr.

Stanford and Yale back Harvard in opposition to the Trump administration thehill.com/homenews/edu...

The Chronicle covers the growing MADC* movement! Faculty senates at Indiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Nebraska state flagships have ALL passed resolutions for Mutual Academic Defense Compacts!! Will your institution be next? Make it so! *because we're mad, see? <groan lol>

Rob Scott@robscottanthro.bsky.social · last yr.

Good article on mutual defense of academic freedom. A movement is growing. www.chronicle.com/article/thes...

Harvard will not comply. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” — Harvard President Alan M. Garber www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

New, from me: Marco Rubio used to boast that he was banned from China, calling it a totalitarian state. Now he combines a) new surveillance capabilities to monitor and punish international students, with b) little accountability or due process. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-attack...

The Attack on International Students

New surveillance and punishment systems are a warning to us all

donmoynihan.substack.com

Photonic integration of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystal assemblies for ultrastrong coupling and infrared spectral tuning. Collaboration with @utmid-ir.bsky.social and @tmtruskett.bsky.social now out in @pubs.acs.org ACS Nano. @texasche.bsky.social #ChemSky 🧪 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

How do polymer co-solutes induce attractive interactions between colloidal nanocrystals? Quantitative theory-experiment analysis with @tmtruskett.bsky.social group using small angle X-ray scattering. @texasche.bsky.social @chemistry.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #ChemSky 🧪

As NIH and university funding in the US is dismantled and as this admin revokes international student visas for no reason…we need to make a stand. Thanks @ardemp.bskyverified.social for being vocal about what’s at stake! www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN

Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

cnn.com

from "learn to code!" to "learn to put screws in iPhones!" in a few short years. really makes you think about Employable Skills

Good for John Hartwig. He is of course correct, and it’s important to say these things loudly and clearly, both abroad and in the US.

Dr. Hotlink@shmemistry.bsky.social · last yr.

english.elpais.com/science-tech...

I do love The Daily Texan. You go, student journalists! "This Editorial Board opposes all attempts to ban drag and believes the Board of Regents should reverse its ruling to uphold our constitutional right to free speech at our University." thedailytexan.com/2025/04/04/d...

“Harvard now faces one of the most consequential choices in its history: Submit to extortion and make itself complicit in the most profound assault on academic freedom and constitutional governance of our time—or go to court. The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.” (Fixed link)

Harvard’s moment of truth - The Boston Globe

The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.

bostonglobe.com

Looking at a 54% increase in the cost of scientific instruments due to the tariff tax.

Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies

Import taxes on staples such as microscopes, glassware and computer chips will affect institutions already feeling financial strain.

nature.com

My Ford School colleague Rusty Hills was chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Here, he reminds us that his party used to openly embrace some of the values they are now banning on campus. www.freep.com/story/opinio...

I teach my U-M students about diversity, inclusion, loyalty, honesty and respect | Opinion

I teach at University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Ford's values are worth teaching, not Donald Trump's.

freep.com