We use computer simulation and formal theory to study the fascinating phenomenon of molecular self-assembly: the spontaneous and reversible aggregation of molecules into a wide variety of structures.  Self-assembly is common in biological systems, and also provides a useful approach to the synthesis of materials with nanoscale features.   Our research goals are to understand and predict how the sizes, shapes, and various other properties of self-assembled structures depend on the chemical structures of their constituents and on conditions of temperature, pressure and concentration.  Using a range of theoretical and computational tools (e.g. molecular dynamics, Brownian dynamics, Monte Carlo, and statistical thermodynamics) we can learn both how a molecule's structure influences local packing and how local effects give rise to mesoscale structure and bulk phase behavior.

(Pictured above - front row from left: Frank Yong Jiang, James Kindt, Jason de Joannis. back row: Xinjiang Lu, David Shi-Jin Zhao.)

New picture from the 2007 Christmas Cookie Decorating Party