IRG 1: Random Organization of Disordered Materials combines researchers from Chemistry, Civil and Chemical Engineering, Mathematics and Physics to investigate new principles for organizing and controlling the microstructure of multiscale materials. The IRG builds on the remarkable discovery of the Random Organization Principle, pioneered by NYU MRSEC investigators, by which systems driven out of equilibrium evolve towards absorbing states in which dynamic rearrangement ceases. IRG 1 explores the structures and correlations that arise in granular, multicomponent and active materials under external and internal driving, particularly those of the absorbing states, seeking to optimize material properties such as yield strength and photonic band structure, and to develop active materials such as optically

reconfigurable colloids and active extensile viscoelastic liquids.

Faculty and Senior Participants: Jasna Brujic, Paul M. Chaikin, Aleks Donev, Alexander Grosberg, Magued Iskander, David J. Pine, Stefano Secanna,  Nadrian C. Seeman, Mike J. Shelley, Eric Vanden-Eijnden