{"id":1114,"date":"2022-10-18T17:20:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T17:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpdev.hmc.edu\/physics\/?page_id=1114"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:23:40","slug":"gerbode","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/faculty-staff\/gerbode\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Gerbode"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor of Physics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In introductory physics courses, we learn about an idealized frictionless world of rigid bodies and smooth surfaces. Yet the physics of everyday life is complex: soft, sticky, squishy and often far from equilibrium. Many materials, ranging from biological tissues to piles of sand evade traditional classifications as either liquid or solid. Further incorporation of such soft matter into modern engineering requires a deeper understanding of these materials. Soft matter physics explores the fundamental physical principles that underlie the complexity of such systems, and has opened up an exciting new class of questions with applications to industry, biology and materials science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gerbode Lab focuses on two areas at the forefront of experimental soft matter physics: (i)&nbsp;<strong>colloids<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 where microscopic solid particles suspended in a fluid self-assemble into thermodynamic phases; and (ii)&nbsp;<strong>adaptive biomaterials<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 where soft microstructured biological tissues actuate complex motions.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"archive-posts-wrapper page-default wp-block-mudd-latest-posts\">\n\t \n\n  \t<div class=\"archive-heading\">\n\t\t  <h2 class=\"archive-heading-description\">Recent Publications<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t  \t\t            <article class=\"archive-post-wrapper\">\n                          <div class=\"archive-post-summary\">\n                <h3 class=\"h2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/research\/publications\/hexagonal-vortices-enable-faster-colloidal-crystal-grain-coarsening\/\">Hexagonal vortices enable faster colloidal crystal grain coarsening<\/a><\/h3>\n                          <p>Helen K. Chaffee, Eric Corona-Oceguera, Chris G. Couto, Avani N. Anne, Elizabeth L. Rogers, Aaron L. Galper, Conor M. Floyd, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n            <\/article>\n                    <article class=\"archive-post-wrapper\">\n                          <div class=\"archive-post-summary\">\n                <h3 class=\"h2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/research\/publications\/grain-splitting-is-a-mechanism-for-grain-coarsening-in-colloidal-polycrystals\/\">Grain Splitting Is a Mechanism for Grain Coarsening in Colloidal Polycrystals<\/a><\/h3>\n                          <p>Anna Rose Barth, Maya Helena Martinez, Cora Emerson Payne, Christopher Gray Couto, Izabela Joy Quintas, Thorthong Soncharoen, Nina M. Brown, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n            <\/article>\n                    <article class=\"archive-post-wrapper\">\n                          <div class=\"archive-post-summary\">\n                <h3 class=\"h2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/research\/publications\/local-melting-attracts-grain-boundaries-in-colloidal-polycrystals\/\">Local Melting Attracts Grain Boundaries in Colloidal Polycrystals<\/a><\/h3>\n                          <p>Caitlin Ellen Cash, Jeremy Wang, Maya Maria Martirossyan, Kemper Ludlow, Alejandro E. Baptista, Nina M. Brown, Eli Joseph Weissler, Jatin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n            <\/div>\n            <\/article>\n                \t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professor of Physics In introductory physics courses, we learn about an idealized frictionless world of rigid bodies and smooth surfaces. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6129,"parent":860,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1114","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6297,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114\/revisions\/6297"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}