APS News

New APS Group to Serve Soft Matter Researchers

APS's new Soft Matter Topical Group (GSOFT) has been officially endorsed by the APS Council and is now calling on the society membership to join as founding members of the group.

May 29, 2014

The newest topical group in the APS family is known as GSOFT, and it brings together a number of researchers working in a broad range of disciplines.

"For some time now the soft matter efforts at the APS meeting have been far too scattered around the different Divisions and Groups," said Randall Kamien from the University of Pennsylvania and acting head of the group. "Soft matter is a field that crosses traditional departmental walls.  No one group or division in the APS represented the whole field."

Soft matter is one of the fastest growing fields in physics. It brings together scientists, mathematicians and engineers to study materials such as colloids, micelles, biological, and granular matter.

The Council voted at the APS April Meeting to create the group after it had collected the necessary signatures to petition the council. The group collected more than 1,300 signatures, while only 200 were needed. The group is now recruiting members from the society's full membership. Once they reach 200 members, they'll become an official group and can organize sessions and events at the APS March Meeting.

"We have just started signing people up," Kamien said. "We are trying to build our membership among our APS constituency and also among our colleagues in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and so forth."

Members interested in joining GSOFT can go to APS's unit signup webpage, or join through the regular renewal process.