22nd Annual Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics Meeting

This year's meeting will be at Northeastern University, in the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute

In-Person (hybrid as needed)

Zoom Link for Remote Attendees: 

https://northeastern.zoom.us/j/93576941457?pwd=aURML3VwbktsRE1lRDlqRlJMT2t3Zz09

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Registration deadline (for submitting a table talk abstract and free food), October 16

The Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics meeting (GBASM) is a workshop that brings together researchers from the greater Boston area and beyond interested in statistical mechanics, nonlinear dynamics, condensed matter physics, biophysics, and related topics for a day of presentations and discussions.  The meeting consists of four invited talks, each of length 30 minutes and contributed "table talks". During table talks, each contributor gives a brief announcement (about 30 seconds, no slides) of his/her work in the lecture hall; we then move to an adjacent room where each contributor sits at a table with a laptop or tablet and discusses his/her research with interested participants. We have found that this format eliminates the expense (and time) associated with preparing a poster but provides greater feedback than a short talk.  For preparation of a table talk, we recommend preparing slides for a ten minute talk with additional supplementary slides to answer questions. The deadline for submitting a table talk is October 16.

Coffee, tea, and bagels will be served from 9:00 am to 9:30 am and lunch will be served at approximately 12:00. If you register by Saturday, October 16 coffee, snacks and lunch are free.  The first of three sessions begins at 9:30 am. Coffee and tea will be available at all times.

Detailed Meeting Program

9:00 – 9:30  Registration, Breakfast and Coffee

 

Session I

Chair: Max Bi, Northeastern University

9:30 – 10:05 Invited Talk: Michele Di Pierro, Northeastern University

                     “Landscapes of Genomic Architecture Across Evolution”

 

10:05 – 10:15  30-Second Table Talk Summaries for Parts 1A and 1B

 

10:15 – 10:45 Table Talks and Coffee Part 1A (refer to table assignment)

 

10:45 – 11:15  Table Talks and Coffee Part 1B (refer to table assignment)

 

Session II


11:15 – 11:50  Invited Talk: Varghese Mathai, UMass Amherst

                     “Emergent dynamics in particle-laden turbulence”

 

11:50 – 12:25  Invited Talk: Xiaoyu Tang, Northeastern University

     “Manipulating Particles via Diffusiophoresis”

 

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

 

Session III

Chair: Mike Hagan, Brandeis University

1:30 – 1:40  30-Second Table Talk Summaries for Parts 1A and 1B

                    

1:40 – 2:10  Table Talks and Coffee Part 2A (refer to table assignment)

 

2:10 – 2:40  Table Talks and Coffee Part 2B  (refer to table assignment)

 

2:45—3:20  Invited Talk: Alex Petroff, Clark University

        “Formation of Active Two-Dimensional Fluids by Multicellular Magnetotactic Bacteria”

Table Talks Format

During table talks, contributors give brief (30 seconds, no slides) announcements of their work in the lecture hall; we then move to the upstairs room where each contributor sits at a table with a laptop or tablet and discusses their research with interested participants. We have found that this format eliminates the expense (and time) associated with preparing a poster but provides greater feedback than a short talk. We recommend preparing a ten minute talk with additional supplementary slides to answer questions. Due to space limitations (and to minimize chaos), each table talk session will be broken into two Parts. After the short announcements for all table talks in the session, the speakers for Part A will present for 30 minutes, then speakers in Part B will present for 30 minutes.

Table Talks Part 1A (10:15 – 10:45 )

Table 1 Andriy Goychuk MIT Alveologenesis in human mammary gland organoids: a shape transformation because of cell reorientation

Table 2 Maria Yampolskaya Boston University Cell fates as attractors in the Hopfield model

Table 3 Saaransh Singhal Brandeis University Active nematics in soft confinement

Table 4 Elahe Javadi Northeastern University Blood Rheology

Table 5 Chaitanya Joshi Tufts University Data-driven discovery of active nematic hydrodynamics

Table 6 Mchael D'Eon Brandeis University Exploring Polarizability for the Vector Charge Theory of Granular Mechanics

Table 7 Alex Plyukhin Saint Anselm College Non-Clausius heat transfer (from cold to hot) 

Table Talks Part 1B (10:45 – 11:15)

Table 1 Yang Wang Boston College Conformational Dynamics of Tail Accommodation in the Ribosome

Table 2 Deepti Kannan MIT Heterogeneity in Nucleosome Spacing Controls Chromatin Looping and Epigenetic Spreading

Table 3 Sarvesh Uplap Brandeis University Design principles for transporting vesicles with enclosed active matter.

Table 4 Nicholas Hackney UMass Amherst Dispersion, Aggregation, Condensation in Geometrically Frustrated Assembly

Table 5 Swetamber Das UMass Boston Density matrix formulation of dynamical systems

Table 6 Jishnu N Nampoothiri Brandeis University Emergent elasticity in Amorphous Solids

Table Talks Part 2A (1:40 – 2:10)

Table 1 Ardavan Farahvash MIT On representing lattice phonons with non-Markovian colored noise: Applications to Surface Desorption. 

Table 2 Xingcheng Lin MIT Near-atomistic modeling reconciles difference between irregular and regular chromatin

Table 3 Suraj Shankar Harvard University How the singing saw gets its voice

Table 4 Michael Dimitriyev UMass Amherst Packing Polymers in Curved Geometries

Table 5 Kanaya Malakar Brandeis University Response of elastic networks to extensile force dipoles

Table 6 Maria Castellanos MIT Designing quantum computers with molecular excitons: How can we mitigate the effect of the bath?

Table 7 Yingyou Ma Brandeis University The stability analysis of 3D dry active nematic

Table Talks Part 2B (2:10 – 2:40 )

Table 1 Jovan Damjanovic Tufts University CATBOSS: Cluster Analysis of Trajectories Based On Segment Splitting

Table 2 Julia Doelger MIT Inferring the intrinsic mutational fitness landscape of influenza-like evolving antigens from temporally ordered sequence data

Table 3 Nithin Chintala Northeastern University Predicting RNA Conformational Ensembles

Table 4 Dominic Skinner MIT Topological analysis of multicellular structures

Table 5 Junxiang Huang Northeastern University Shear-driven solidification and nonlinear elasticity in epithelial tissues

Table 6 Michael Wang UMass Amherst Weakly active particles near boundaries in different geometries

Invited Speakers

Michele Di Pierro, Northeastern University

Landscapes of Genomic Architecture Across Evolution

The human genome is composed of 46 DNA molecules — the chromosomes — with a combined length of about two meters. Chromosomes are stored in the cell nucleus in a very organized fashion that is specific to the cell type and phase of life; this three-dimensional architecture is a key element of transcriptional regulation and its disruption often leads to disease.  What is the physical mechanism leading to genome architecture? If the DNA contained in every human cell is identical, where is the blueprint of such architecture stored? In this talk, I will demonstrate how the architecture of interphase chromosomes is encoded in the one-dimensional sequence of epigenetic markings much as three-dimensional protein structures are determined by their one-dimensional sequence of amino acids. In contrast to the situation for proteins, however, the sequence code provided by the epigenetic marks that decorate the chromatin fiber is not fixed but is dynamically rewritten during cell differentiation, modulating both the three-dimensional structure and gene expression in different cell types.  This idea led to the development of a physical theory for the folding of genomes, which enables predicting the spatial conformation of chromosomes with unprecedented accuracy and specificity. Finally, I will demonstrate how the different energy terms present in our model impact the topology of chromosomes across evolution. Our results open the way for studying functional aspects of genome architecture along the three of life. 

Alex Petroff, Clark University 

Formation of Active Two-Dimensional Fluids by Multicellular Magnetotactic Bacteria

We characterize a new phase of active matter composed of  Multicellular Magnetotactic Bacteria (MMB).  After colliding with a surface in a weak magnetic field, MMB escape into the bulk fluid at random angles; MMB are exponentially distributed about the surface.  At high magnetic fields, MMB self organize as an active two-dimensional fluid on the surface.  Unlike previously reported microbial active fluids, contact with the surface enhances rotational diffusion by a factor of eight and velocity fluctuations are Laplace distributed.  The active fluid undergoes a percolation transition at a critical magnetic field.  Supercritical active fluids exhibit dynamic voids, which limit the relaxation of density fluctuations.

Xiaoyu Tang, Northeastern University

Manipulating Particles via Diffusiophoresis 

Diffusiophoresis is a phenomenon where particles migrate under solute gradient. In this talk, I will give two examples utilizing this phenomenon to manipulate the placement of particles which are advantageous compared to other methods. In the first example, we deliver particles into dead-end pores where convective transport is limited. It enhances the delivery speed by 1000 times compared to diffusion of the particles. Moreover, by introducing chemical reactions between the solutes, we demonstrated a versatile strategy to control the particle delivery speed and the distribution of particles. In the second example, I will demonstrate a strategy to pattern the particle distribution with surface charge heterogeneity.

Varghese Mathai, UMass Amherst 

Emergent dynamics in particle-laden turbulence

The interaction of particles and bubbles with fluid turbulence produces an intriguing variety of emergent dynamics, often resulting in new system properties. In this talk, I will share a few examples where fluid turbulence is picturized in the presence of dispersed particles and bubbles. We will show how buoyant particles (millimetric air bubbles) organize themselves within the turbulent liquid flow and modify the properties of the turbulence.  The Lagrangian dispersion statistics of bubbles suspended in the flow reveals an earlier ballistic-to-diffusive transition as compared to the fluid. We will discuss how their preferential ordering and accelerated movements lead to the emergence of a modified -3 scaling for the turbulent energy cascade.

 

Location

The meeting will be held at the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute at Northeastern University.

Directions

Public Transportation

Northeastern University is accessible by subway via the MBTA Green Line and Orange Line trains. From downtown Boston, you can take a Green Line “E” train outbound to the Northeastern stop (the first stop above ground). The campus can also be reached from downtown via the Orange Line by taking any train going outbound to Forest Hills and getting off at Ruggles Station (which exits within Northeastern’s main campus). 


Driving and Parking

Street-side parking may be available near campus on Parker Street and Columbus Avenue.  

Garage parking ($20) is available at the Renaissance Park Garage (835 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA 02120). 

Financial Support

The cost of this year's GBASM meeting is generously subsidized by:

Previous GBASMs

Additional Information

Please contact Max Bi if you have any more questions about the meeting.

Meeting Organizers

Max Bi (Northeastern University)

Nikta Fakhri (MIT Physics)

Michael Hagan (Brandeis University)

Ben Rogers (Brandeis University)

Adam Willard (MIT Chemistry)

Shuang Zhou (UMass Amherst)