Co-Chair

Zhigang Suo Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences		Wing-Kam Liu Northwestern University Department of Mechanical Engineering

Conference Purposes and Goals

Mechanical behavior of complex materials has attracted considerable attention for their size effects, highly non-linear behavior and potential in vast applications. Despite substantial progress has been made in understanding microscopic mechanism underlying such complex behavior, a gap still exists between mechanistic understandings of microscopic processes and rational design of engineering materials and structures. Closing this gap will require fundamental advances in meso-scale mechanics.

This workshop aims to cement the link between microscopic process and broad scientific and technological challenges. The workshop will provide a means to bring together theoretical modeling and experimental testing to investigate nano-scale mechanisms related to structure and strength of complex materials and identify transformative opportunities for research. Moreover, mechanical phenomena in meso-scale biological materials offer an enticing opportunity to researches in the field of mechanics of materials, who can provide new insight and investigate these phenomena with methods that have not previously been exploited by biologists and bioengineers. The workshop will focus on in-depth interdisciplinary discussions of the problems that limit scientific and technological development in the field from leading researchers around the world with a wild range of expertise in mechanics, physics, chemistry and material science.