There is a gap between basic research and manufacturing, particularly of responsive, ‘living’ materials.  A major hurdle is the separation of scales: spatial, temporal, and throughput. On one hand, we have detailed models of micromechanics and molecular dynamics that can encode the physics of complex, dynamic biomaterials, but fail to capture material responses on longer time and length scales.  On the other hand, we have continuum models that are optimized for rapid predictive modeling of bulk mechanical responses but poorly connect to microstructural features.

Our challenge: Can we leverage our team's unique expertise and integrate these varied approaches through experiment, theory and computation to improve material design and manufacturing?

Our goals:

1. Catalyze interactions and enable collaborations between our DMREF and FM teams.

2. Institute student exchanges to develop new tools that enable rapid iterative screening and optimization toward defined performance targets and new approaches to multiscale modeling to guide material design. 

3. Provide training in ideation, team science, and proposal development.

4. Provide opportunities to practice and develop skills in writing, communication, collaboration, and project management.

The meeting leaders consist of 7 PIs from 2 different collaborations funded by the NSF DMREF (Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future) and FM (Future Manufacturing) programs.

Learn more about the goals of the DMREF team and participating DMREF PIs:

Rae Robertson-Anderson | University of San Diego

Megan Valentine | UC Santa Barbara

Moumita Das | Rochester Institute of Technology

Learn more about the goals of the FM team and participating FM PIs:

Shu Yang | UPenn

Xiao Hu | Rowan Univ

David Salas-de la Cruz | Rutgers Univ

Andrej Kosmrlj | Princeton Univ

Workshop Dates:

January 22, 2026 (4pm) - January 24, 2026 (8pm)

Workshop Location:

Shiley Center for Science and Technology (SCST)

University of San Diego

5998 Alcala Park

San Diego, CA 92110

Central meeting room: SCST 232

Breakout rooms: SCST 230, 231, 261

Break and meal spaces: SCST Atrium, Reading Room (SCST 361), Strata Plaza (1st floor SCST patio)

Lodging:

All trainees are staying at

Hilton Garden Inn in Old Town: 4200 Taylor St, San Diego, CA 92110

(<1 mile from USD)

All PIs are staying on the USD campus at

Casa de la Paz : 5939 Camino de la Paz, San Diego, CA 92110

(across the street from the Shiley Center)

Meals:

All meals are included and will be held in SCST or neighboring spaces. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions that you did not inform us of in the intake survey.

1. laptop and power supply

2. thumbdrive if you anticipate needing to transfer/share data

3. comfortable clothes and layers - January temperatures can fluctuate by >20 degrees in a day

4. an open mind and collaborative spirit

1. Review the information on this workshop webpage

2. Complete the pre-assessment survey

3. Add your slides to the spark talk slide deck

4. Review the Trainee Proposal Solicitation

5. Discuss with your PI if they have specific expectations for your involvement in proposals and projects

Synopsis: A major hurdle to bringing basic research to manufacturing is separation of scales: spatial, temporal, and throughput. In particular, bridging detailed models of micromechanics and molecular dynamics with bulk continuum models remains a grand challenge. The former is excellent for encoding the physics of complex, dynamic biomaterials, while the latter is optimized for rapid predictive modeling of bulk mechanical responses. Any effort to close the gap between basic research and manufacturing requires integrating these two approaches through experiment, theory and computation loops. We propose to meet this challenge by enabling cross-institution training and collaboration by joining our expertise in microscale network experiments and models (DMREF) and expertise in manufacturing and continuum modeling (FM).

Our program seeks to build cross-institution collaboration and training through student exchanges to develop  (1) tools that enable rapid iterative screening and optimization toward defined performance targets, and (2) multiscale modeling to guide material design.  This comprehensive integration of top-down and bottom-up modeling is particularly critical for the multi-component, force-generating, dissipative materials commonly found in living materials, such as active cytoskeletal composites (ACCs), and stimuli responsive synthetic materials, and composites of living and synthetic materials (such as hydrogels).  By developing comprehensive experimental datasets and powerful multiscale models, we aim to map constitutive equations from molecular mechanisms to continuum frameworks in a self-consistent scalable manner, providing new capabilities to both the DMREF and FM teams.   

This collaborative effort will leverage the DMREF team’s expertise in engineering ACCs with tunable dynamics and force-generation with the FM team’s expertise in chemistry and precision patterning to introduce control and resilience into ACCs and active dynamics and force-generation into manufactured synthetic materials. 

Areas of particular interest:

1. Development of theories and experiments to understand how to bring active functionality into manufacturable synthetic materials, and/or more spatiotemporal control over force-generation and actuation of protein-based ACCs, e.g. through the use of dynamic bonds, light responsive chemistry, tunable network topology and connectivity, magnetic inclusions, etc. 

2. Incorporation of dissipation and large deformations into models of active materials that so far primarily consider linear elastic responses. 

3. Use of patterning, geometric design and 3D printing to co-optimize material function and manufacturability of living materials to enable future eco manufacturing at scale.  Examples of  design targets include, but are not limited to: 

   • Formation of energy-minimizing structures with programmable reconfigurability and responsiveness. 

   • Use of photo-responsive chemistries (synthetic and/or biological) to allow spatiotemporal patterning of viscoelasticity and activity across scales.
     

Rules for team formation

1. Teams must consist of 2-4 members, consisting of at least 1 host and at least 1 traveler.  Other members may be located at the home campus of the host or traveler, or may participate remotely from another campus.

2. Every team must include at least 1 member from an FM team and 1 member from a DMREF team, and should include both experiment and theory.

3. Each team should propose at least one exchange of trainees between DMREF and FM sites for 2-4 weeks.  Exact budgets and timelines will be determined by the faculty PIs, but it is anticipated that the lodging, travel, and reagents/supplies costs will be provided.

4. Postdocs or graduate students may serve as hosts and/or collaborators.  Graduate students are eligible for travel exchanges.  

5. Each trainee may join up to 2 teams.  

6. Teams may suggest 2 exchanges (2-4 weeks per exchange), but the scope of work and proposed outcomes should scale with the additional investment.  Projects with more than 2 proposed exchanges are unlikely to be funded.

Criteria for Proposal Selection

1. Have the rules for team formation been followed?

   • Is there good integration between the DMREF and FM teams?

   • Is there good integration between experiment and theory?

2. Are the learning goals of the exchange clearly articulated and aligned with the goals of the student and the research?

3. Are the research plans and outcomes clearly described?

4. Is the exchange likely to produce valuable, timely outputs that will be integrated into publications and/or proposals?  Priority will be given to proposals likely to lead to deliverables (papers, proposals) before September 15, 2026.

Anticipated number of exchanges: 6-8

Program Timeline 

January 23, 2026, 10PM - Letter of intent due (one per team). Include proposed project title, names and affiliations of team members, list of project goals

January 24, 2026, 9AM - Go/no-go decisions are announced.  Teams with greenlight will move forward, members of other teams will have a chance to pivot, reorganize, or join other teams.

January 24, 2026, 5PM - Team presentations, addressing all required proposal elements

January 30, 2026 - Final proposals due (one per team)

February 6, 2026 -Awards announced, to commence immediately.

September 15, 2026 -Final reports due (one per team) describing team activities, progress, outcomes, and future plans (additional details to follow). 

Proposal Requirements

Proposal must be no more than 3 pages, including figures, and include the following sections. References may be placed on a separate page. 

1. Project title

2. Names and affiliations of team members

3. List of project goals. Include both learning objectives and research objectives.  

4. Describe the research question that will be addressed by your team.  

   • Why is this research important?

   • How does it relate to the overarching goals of the DMREF and/or FM projects?  

5. Describe the proposed exchange 

   • Why is the exchange needed?  

   • What new skills will be gained and how are these linked to the project goal(s)?

   • Provide details on timeline and planned activities. 

6. Describe the team roles and responsibilities.

   • Define who will be traveling, who will be hosting, and the roles of all collaborators, including who will be the team leader, who will be responsible for all team communication, organization and reporting.

   • Why is this team qualified to undertake this work?  Provide details of team expertise and resources available at the host campus to enable the project. 

   • How will each member contribute?  

   • Include a brief management plan - how will data be shared, how often will the team meet, how will the team communicate?

   • Are any additional resources needed?

7. List the anticipated outcomes (e.g. figure(s) for a paper, dataset(s), software code(s), new skill(s), preliminary data for proposal, etc.)  These should be project specific and detailed, not general statements of expected progress.  

Proposals should follow NSF formatting guidelines:

• Acceptable fonts: Arial (not Arial Narrow), Courier New, or Palatino Linotype at a font size of 10 points or larger; Times New Roman at a font size of 11 points or larger; or Computer Modern family of fonts at a font size of 11 points or larger.

• A font size of less than 10 points may be used for mathematical formulas or equations, figures, tables, or diagram captions and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special characters. Other fonts not specified above, such as Cambria Math, may be used for mathematical formulas, equations, or when inserting Greek letters or special characters.

• Line spacing: No more than six lines of text within a vertical space of one inch. 

• Margins: At least one inch in all directions. 

• Paper size must be no larger than standard letter paper size.