Jacinta Conrad
@jcconrad.bsky.social
Soft matter physicist; professor of chemical engineering. Drawing, guitar, hiking, reading, cooking, and a miniature Aussie. She/her.
Pinned
Jacinta Conrad
@jcconrad.bsky.social
· May 10
Newish interest: fountain pens and sheener inks -- colloidal physics in action!
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
📌 Join us for the next klogW seminar on November 18th at 12PM EST (register below) by Roya Zandi (UC Riverside) on "Physics of Viruses".
Registration link: engage.aps.org/dsnp/resourc...
Registration link: engage.aps.org/dsnp/resourc...
November 12, 2025 at 8:14 PM
📌 Join us for the next klogW seminar on November 18th at 12PM EST (register below) by Roya Zandi (UC Riverside) on "Physics of Viruses".
Registration link: engage.aps.org/dsnp/resourc...
Registration link: engage.aps.org/dsnp/resourc...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
🧪⚛️ Vortices and this year's APS Buckley Prize - a brief write-up. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/11/vort...
Vortices everywhere
The 2026 APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize in condensed matter physics was announced this week, and it's a really interesting combination of topi...
nanoscale.blogspot.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
🧪⚛️ Vortices and this year's APS Buckley Prize - a brief write-up. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/11/vort...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Dear Physicists and Physics fans,
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
November 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Dear Physicists and Physics fans,
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.
Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Are you interested in how #living and #synthetic systems navigate chemical gradients, from #bacteria to #active #colloids? Click here: doi.org/10.1002/anie...
#EngineeringBiology #SyntheticBiology #ActiveMatter #SoftMatter
#EngineeringBiology #SyntheticBiology #ActiveMatter #SoftMatter
Perspective on Interdisciplinary Approaches on Chemotaxis
Chemotaxis is the movement of individual organisms towards or away from a chemical stimulus. This phenomenon is investigated in various disciplines, ranging from biology to physics and even engineeri....
doi.org
November 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Are you interested in how #living and #synthetic systems navigate chemical gradients, from #bacteria to #active #colloids? Click here: doi.org/10.1002/anie...
#EngineeringBiology #SyntheticBiology #ActiveMatter #SoftMatter
#EngineeringBiology #SyntheticBiology #ActiveMatter #SoftMatter
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Curious about the latest advancements in soft matter physics by young researchers? Join our Students’ Virtual Conference, on November 6th from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET! We have a great lineup of 20 speakers covering a wide range of topics. Register via the QR code or via tinyurl.com/DSOFTConfere...
November 3, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Curious about the latest advancements in soft matter physics by young researchers? Join our Students’ Virtual Conference, on November 6th from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET! We have a great lineup of 20 speakers covering a wide range of topics. Register via the QR code or via tinyurl.com/DSOFTConfere...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
APS Meeting abstracts for Denver deadline was extend to October 31! Consider submitting to the "Engineered Biopolymers and Living Materials" focus session organized by Melody Morris and me. We invite abstracts covering research using polymer physics for engineered biopolymers and living materials.
APS Global Physics Summit 2026 abstract submission
Present your physics research to over 14,000 physicists from around the world.
summit.aps.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:17 PM
APS Meeting abstracts for Denver deadline was extend to October 31! Consider submitting to the "Engineered Biopolymers and Living Materials" focus session organized by Melody Morris and me. We invite abstracts covering research using polymer physics for engineered biopolymers and living materials.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
We are happy to announce the DSOFT Students’ Virtual Conference, on November 6, 2025 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET! We have a great lineup of 20 speakers covering a diverse range of topics in soft matter physics. Register via the link or QR code to participate! tinyurl.com/DSOFTConfere...
October 24, 2025 at 10:34 PM
We are happy to announce the DSOFT Students’ Virtual Conference, on November 6, 2025 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET! We have a great lineup of 20 speakers covering a diverse range of topics in soft matter physics. Register via the link or QR code to participate! tinyurl.com/DSOFTConfere...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Final version of our paper on ciliary metachronal waves out now in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...
This is the main thesis work of my PhD student Rebecca Poon, who caught many #platnereis larvae and tirelessly ablated them with a laser. THREAD
This is the main thesis work of my PhD student Rebecca Poon, who caught many #platnereis larvae and tirelessly ablated them with a laser. THREAD
October 15, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Final version of our paper on ciliary metachronal waves out now in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...
This is the main thesis work of my PhD student Rebecca Poon, who caught many #platnereis larvae and tirelessly ablated them with a laser. THREAD
This is the main thesis work of my PhD student Rebecca Poon, who caught many #platnereis larvae and tirelessly ablated them with a laser. THREAD
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Our paper on chromosome segregation in the archaeon Sulfolobus Acidocaldarius has been published in PNAS! This has been a great collaboration with @joeparham19.bsky.social and the rest of @buzzbaum.bsky.social's team. Stay tuned for more to come!😉 @istaresearch.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Temporal and spatial coordination of DNA segregation and cell division in an archaeon | PNAS
Cells must coordinate DNA segregation with cytokinesis to ensure that each daughter
cell inherits a complete genome. Here, we explore how DNA segre...
doi.org
October 16, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Our paper on chromosome segregation in the archaeon Sulfolobus Acidocaldarius has been published in PNAS! This has been a great collaboration with @joeparham19.bsky.social and the rest of @buzzbaum.bsky.social's team. Stay tuned for more to come!😉 @istaresearch.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
DOE Consolidates Office of Science Advisory Committees
Six long-standing committees advising the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have been rolled into one.
www.aip.org
October 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM
SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭
Why that matters 🧵
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Folks whose jobs, postdocs or grad school fellowships or applications were cut short--drop them a line
Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...
October 11, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Folks whose jobs, postdocs or grad school fellowships or applications were cut short--drop them a line
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Excited to be hosting the BPPB seminar tomorrow after a while (last semester I was teaching during seminar hour).
Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning.
Hope to see some of you there
Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning.
Hope to see some of you there
Please join BPPB Seminars on Friday October 10 at 11 US Eastern time for an exciting talk by Gautam Reddy @gautamreddy.bsky.social
on "Mechanisms for learning to learn in small transformer models". For more details, please visit sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...
October 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Excited to be hosting the BPPB seminar tomorrow after a while (last semester I was teaching during seminar hour).
Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning.
Hope to see some of you there
Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning.
Hope to see some of you there
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."
A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
www.nytimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:32 PM
"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."
A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
October 2, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
As always, @edyong209.bsky.social is on point!! I wish the University admin understood this point better.
PS. If you don't know Ed, he is currently my most favorite author. Highly recommend his books and articles. His COVID coverage was impeccable.
PS. If you don't know Ed, he is currently my most favorite author. Highly recommend his books and articles. His COVID coverage was impeccable.
This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥
We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪
Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇
open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...
We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪
Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇
open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...
October 1, 2025 at 10:42 PM
As always, @edyong209.bsky.social is on point!! I wish the University admin understood this point better.
PS. If you don't know Ed, he is currently my most favorite author. Highly recommend his books and articles. His COVID coverage was impeccable.
PS. If you don't know Ed, he is currently my most favorite author. Highly recommend his books and articles. His COVID coverage was impeccable.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
So, at the very least, we all need to be joining or starting an AAUP chapter:
www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...
www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...
Find a Chapter
A list of AAUP chapters, both unionized and nonunionized. (You can also see a list of just union chapters.)
www.aaup.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:02 PM
So, at the very least, we all need to be joining or starting an AAUP chapter:
www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...
www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
YES! THIS on GenAI!
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:07 PM
YES! THIS on GenAI!
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.
September 20, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
From @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social: If you want to understand the increasingly authoritarian grip that the Republican establishment has on this state, and the increasingly destructive ends to which it is using its power, no figure from our past is better suited than Homer Price Rainey.
Texas History Offers Warnings amid Rash of Faculty Firings
Lessons to learn from the politically motivated firing of a UT president in the 1940s
www.texasobserver.org
September 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
From @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social: If you want to understand the increasingly authoritarian grip that the Republican establishment has on this state, and the increasingly destructive ends to which it is using its power, no figure from our past is better suited than Homer Price Rainey.
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland to feel brunt of Trump’s new $100K visa fee
Hopkins, University of Maryland to feel brunt of Trump’s new $100K visa fee
Looking at Donald Trump’s new changes to H-1B visas, which now include a hefty $100,000 fee. Will Maryland colleges start hiring less foreign born faculty because of it?
buff.ly
September 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland to feel brunt of Trump’s new $100K visa fee
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
Comment period ends on Monday for a proposed rule change that would terminate student visas after 4 years. It also puts limits on exchange visitors and reps of foreign media, and shortens the length of time at the end of the visa from 60 days to 30 days.
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media
Unlike most nonimmigrant classifications, which are admitted for a fixed time period, aliens in the F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and most I (representatives of foreign information media...
www.federalregister.gov
September 27, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Comment period ends on Monday for a proposed rule change that would terminate student visas after 4 years. It also puts limits on exchange visitors and reps of foreign media, and shortens the length of time at the end of the visa from 60 days to 30 days.
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
Reposted by Jacinta Conrad
🗣️🗣️What is happening at Texas Tech is part of a national campaign to erase the existence of trans people. Faculty and academic leaders across the country must stand up now: this suppression of #FreeSpeech and #AcademicFreedom will not be confined to Texas!
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...
Texas Tech’s limits on gender identity discussion deepen fears of politics breaching academic freedom
Professors are afraid to publicly speak out, system leaders left key questions unanswered and advocates worry for LGBTQ+ students’ mental health.
www.texastribune.org
September 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
🗣️🗣️What is happening at Texas Tech is part of a national campaign to erase the existence of trans people. Faculty and academic leaders across the country must stand up now: this suppression of #FreeSpeech and #AcademicFreedom will not be confined to Texas!
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...