Knowledge Transfer and Community Building:
85th New England Complex Fluids Workshop

The MRSEC-sponsored, quarterly New England Complex Fluids (NECF) workshops developed by Weitz (top-right) and Fraden (middle-right, Brandeis MRSEC) have been a vital mechanism to nurture the soft matter community. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the 85th NECF workshop was held virtually by Harvard in December 2020. A benefit of the virtual format was that invited speakers were drawn both internationally, Peter Schall (U. Amsterdam) and Laura Arriaga (U. Madrid) (top-left and center) as well as nationally, Sarah Keller (U. Washington) and Hee-Sun Han (U. Illinois). This workshop brought together over 160 participants, including scientists from industry and partners from the national laboratories, including Ron Pindak (Brookhaven). In addition to the invited talks, participants gave 30 research "sound bites". A fully in-person or a hybrid model is anticipated for the next NECF workshop at Harvard in the Fall 2021.