I am generally interested in molecular and macromolecular structure, dynamics, and orientational order in soft condensed matter. For low-molar-mass materials this includes plastic crystals and liquid crystals (LCs). In the case of macromolecules we study solid and semi-solid phases-glasses, rubbery elastic networks, semi-crystalline and liquid crystalline polymers, isotropic melts and solutions of both synthetic and biological macromolecules.

Consider the technologically-important LC display. It is very challenging to design new liquid crystals for LCDs: typically the thermal energy in the melt phase overwhelms the delicate interplay between attractive forces and dynamic packing preferences needed for liquid crystallinity. We use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and computer simulation methods to characterize this interplay between intermolecular attraction and packing and try to extend our observations to less esoteric materials (polymer melts and networks). For the latter materials we have designed new experiments that enable us to visualize molecular phenomena while deforming fluid phases in the NMR spectrometer.

My research program focuses on understanding structure-property relations, especially how rather modest structural changes at the molecular level are manifested in the supramolecular arrangements adopted by LC molecules and polymers.