Physico-chemical interactions at interfaces are ubiquitous in multiple industries including energy, water, agriculture, medicine, transportation, and consumer products. In this talk, Kripa will summarize how surface/interface chemistry, morphology, thermal, and electrical properties can be engineered across multiple length scales for significant efficiency enhancements in a wide range of processes.

Vikas will present his team's theoretical framework and a microstructural physics-motivated constitutive model that describes the nonlinear large strain elastic-viscoplastic material response, rate-dependent stiffening and material state transformation of reversible dynamically crosslinked soft polymers over seven decades of strain rates.

The diversity and complexity of natural substrates—from flowable materials like sand and mud to steeply sloped tree branches and trunks with vast differences in flexibility and roughness—present significant challenges for animal movement.