After obtaining a PhD in Physics from Boston University, Dr. Sharon Glotzer worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Washington D.C. before going to the University of Michigan. She manages The Glotzer Group, a research laboratory on campus that studies nanoparticles and molecular self-assembly. In particular, Professor Glotzer focuses on the force entropy exerts on nanoparticles. "It’s very common for people to immediately associate entropy with disorder," she notes. "But it also happens that entropy can actually be the reason for a system to order rather to be disordered, and that fact is not widely appreciated."
In better understanding entropy and self-assembly, Professor Glotzer and her group aim to uncover ways to engineer new materials with unique properties. Potential applications include the engineering of improved solar cells, new batteries, or even materials with "cloaking" invisibility attributes and shape-shifting materials.