Dr. Chenhui Peng is a Professor in the Department of Physics at USTC since 2022. He got his PhD degree from Liquid Crystal Institute of Kent State University in Ohio in 2017. Afterwards, he did Postdoc work at MIT from 2017 to 2018. Then he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Materials Science at the University of Memphis from Aug. 2018 to Dec. 2021. His research interests include active soft matter, biophysics, smart materials, colloidal self-assembly, microfluidics and their bioengineering applications and his work has been published in Science, Nature Physics, PNAS, Science Advances, Nature Communications, and Advanced Materials, etc.

1. Collective behavior of bacteria and cell monolayer interfacing with anisotropic media
2. Non-equilibrium dynamics of molecular and colloidal self-assembly
3. Programmable liquid crystal elastomer with kirigami and origami designs

In this project, students are expected to learn the basics of soft condensed matter physics and be involved in how to play with dynamics of biological living matter such as bacteria and cells.

Students with strong motivation and curiosity in nature.