Description:

Speaker:

Aparna Baskaran, Professor of Physics, Brandeis University

Title:

Measuring Active Stress: Vignettes of Data Driven Approaches Applied to the MT-Kinesin Active Fluid

Abstract: 

In this talk, we will begin with big picture discussion of that "Active matter" looks like from a materials physicist's perspective at the present time. Then, we will review the specifics of an experimental active matter system of in vitro suspension of purified cytoskeletal proteins. The meat of the talk will discuss some recent work to employ data driven techniques to extract material parameters and understand the complex emergent phenomenology of this fluid system. 

Speaker Bio:

Aparna Baskaran received her undergraduate degree from Pondicherry University in 2001 and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2006. She is a professor in the Martin A. Fisher School of Physics at Brandeis University, where she has been on the faculty since 2010. Her research centers on understanding theoretical principles that underlie nonequilibrium phenomena in soft materials and physical biology. Aparna's research involves close collaboration with experimentalists and computer simulators to understand and model particular systems, from which she extracts theoretical ideas that transcend the context of their origin and apply to broad classes of nonequilibrium systems. She is a beloved teacher and passionate exponent of her science. 

Location:

In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/92035300595
Passcode: NICO25

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, data science and network science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.