CENTER FOR COMPLEX PARTICLE SYSTEMS (COMPASS)

非技术描述：胶体是由一种物质的不溶颗粒组成的混合物，悬浮在另一种物质中。塑造这种基于粒子的物质的能力一直是人类文明发展的核心要素。例如，罗马水泥是一种胶体，在两千年后仍在揭示其耐久性的奥秘。现代方法，如添加剂制造和颗粒自组织，允许制造具有前所未有的机械、电气、生物和化学性能组合的复杂材料。然而，缺乏理论基础来预测胶体作为多分散粒子形成复杂结构的动力系统的性质，阻碍了对技术进步至关重要的新材料的发现。因此，需要新的想法和方法来将功能与结构复杂性相关联。复杂粒子系统中心(COMPASS)汇集了一支由理论、实验和计算研究人员组成的团队，以开发必要的科学和技术，以建立基于粒子的物质的系统级方法。该中心将把图论和机器学习等多种技术与先进的显微镜技术相结合。通过关注不完美的系统，Compass的目标是在3D打印和其他形式的添加剂制造中引发一场革命，使用不同的粒子系统。COMPASS的变革性影响将通过专注于教育、推广和创业活动的推进而放大，这些活动为处于不利地位的高中生、少数民族和退伍军人提供机会。技术描述：COMPASS代表了一项综合努力，通过成为理论、实验和计算研究人员的协作家园，解决分层结构材料的知识缺口，他们将共同开发基于粒子的物质的系统级方法的科学和技术。这种方法利用了离散数学领域的工具，如图论和网络理论，这些工具在过去主要是为了应用于社会、经济或网络相关学科而发展起来的。COMPASS将使图论和网络理论能够预测和控制强相互作用的胶体颗粒的复杂行为，能够自发地产生静态和动态网络以及高度复杂的多尺度分层结构。数学、物理科学和工程学科之间的交叉授粉将基于粒子的物质描述为一个由非理想粒子组成的复杂系统，这将使与塑造物质相关的长期问题发生范式转变。该中心的活动范围从基础方法的开发到技术应用，分为四个与研究有关的主题。推力#1，胶体作为复杂系统的图形理论描述，重点是基于图形描述具有复杂形状的粒子集合及其后续使用的时空安排的方法论。推力#2，基于图形的胶体颗粒系统功能度量，建立了胶体系统结构的图形表示与其机械、电气和化学特性之间的关系。预测将使用宏观、微观和纳米尺度的粒子模型系统的实验和计算技术进行验证。推力#3，复杂粒子系统的路径，通过利用强相互作用的多分散粒子“社区”中的涌现、自组装和临界现象，开发了复杂粒子系统的路径。在推力#4，复杂粒子系统的实现中，以前的推力的进步汇聚在一起。这一推力将前面任务中获得的累积知识转化为复杂粒子系统的案例研究，这些复杂粒子系统传输的物理量直接与适用于添加剂制造的各种容易获得的粒子的动态连接性相关。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nontechnical description:A colloid is a mixture consisting of insoluble particles of one substance, suspended throughout another substance. The ability to shape such particle-based matter has been a central element in the development of human civilization. For example, Roman cement is a colloid that is still revealing the mysteries of its durability after two millennia. Modern methods such as additive manufacturing and self-organization of particles allow for the fabrication of complex materials with unprecedented combinations of mechanical, electrical, biological, and chemical properties. The lack of a theoretical foundation to predict the properties of colloids as dynamic system of polydispersed particles forming complex structures, however, hinders discovery of novel materials critical for technological progress. New ideas and approaches are therefore needed to correlate functionality with structural complexity. The Center for Complex Particle Systems (COMPASS) brings together a team of theoretical, experimental, and computational researchers to develop the science and technology necessary to establish a systems-level approach for particle-based matter. The Center will integrate diverse techniques such as graph theory and machine learning with advanced microscopy. Through a focus on ‘imperfect’ systems, COMPASS aims to ignite a revolution in 3D printing and other forms of additive manufacturing with diverse particle systems. The transformative impact of COMPASS will be amplified by thrusts focused on educational, outreach, and entrepreneurship activities that provide opportunities for disadvantaged high school students, minorities and veterans.Technical description:COMPASS represents an integrative effort of addressing the knowledge gap of hierarchical structured materials by becoming a collaborative home for theoretical, experimental, and computational researchers who will together develop the science and technology of a systems-level approach for particle-based matter. This approach takes advantage of tools from the field of discrete mathematics known as graph theory and network theory that has been advanced in the past predominantly for application to social, economic, or networks-related disciplines. COMPASS will enable graph and network theories to predict and control the complex behavior of strongly interacting colloidal particles capable of spontaneously producing static and dynamic networks and multiscale hierarchical structures with high complexity. The cross-pollination among mathematics, physical sciences and engineering disciplines describing particle-based matter as a complex system of non-ideal particles will enable a paradigmatic shift in the enduring problems associated with shaping matter. The activities of the center span from the development of foundational methods to technology-enabling applications and are organized in four research-related thrusts. Thrust #1, Graph Theoretical Description of Colloids as Complex Systems, focuses on the methodology for a graph-based description of ensembles of particles with complex shapes and spatiotemporal arrangements for their subsequent use. Thrust #2, Graph-Based Functionality Metrics for Colloidal Particle Systems, establishes relationships between graph representations of the structure of colloidal systems and their mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. Predictions will be validated using experimental and computational techniques with model particle systems at macro-, micro- and nanoscales. Thrust #3, Pathways to Complex Particle Systems, develops pathways to complex particle systems by taking advantage of emergence, self-assembly, and criticality phenomena in ‘communities’ of strongly interacting polydisperse particles. Advances in previous thrusts come together in Thrust #4, Implementation of Complex Particle Systems. This thrust translates the cumulative knowledge acquired in the preceding tasks to case studies of complex particle systems that transport physical quantities directly related to the dynamic connectivity of diverse readily accessible particles suitable for additive manufacturing.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.