LEAPS-MPS: Emergent Mechanics of a Living Material

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Nature provides fantastic examples of behaviors that are not currently possible with engineered materials. For example, fish within a school process information to stay together as an organized unit, yet the school is capable of reorganizing quickly and changing its overall shape. This award investigates the structural organization, and changes therein, of a school of fish as a way to identify the mechanical possibilities of self-driven materials. Applications of this work are to define new rules and design principles for materials engineering. This award supports the expansion of interdisciplinary research topics for undergraduate students at Seattle University and generates opportunities for undergraduate students to present work at academic conferences. Furthermore, this award initiates early career development and support for local high school students by funding immersive traineeships.Collective behaviors as seen in schools of fish and flocks of birds demonstrate the ability for individuals to form dynamic ordered groups. These behaviors are a consequence of simple interactions between each constituent. However, simple interactions between individuals are also observed in pair-wise interactions that determine traditional materials structure (ex: crystal lattice spacing) and mechanical properties (ex: bond spring constant). This award uses motivations from equilibrium materials to characterize the structure and define mechanical properties of non-equilibrium schools of fish, allowing a comparison between traditional materials science and living materials. Consequently, this will increase fundamental understandings of living systems and inspire new materials design. This award addresses the need for simple and controllable experimental realizations of active materials. Further, this formulates a perspective to treat an active system as a material with bulk mechanical properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.