The 2013 Gordon Conference on Liquid Crystals will provide a forum for in-depth discussion of ideas at the frontier of liquid crystal science and technology, broadly construed. Liquid crystals present a class of well-defined soft materials whose study includes new approaches to synthesis, computational modeling, self- and assisted-assembly, and theoretical notions. Understanding the underlying physics, chemistry, and biology of molecules in contact with liquid crystals and certain target species will be highlighted.

The coverage of this conference will be extremely broad with topics including chemical synthesis and physical properties characterization of new, low-molecular weight, polymeric and elastomeric liquid crystalline materials, composites of liquid crystals and nanostructured materials and systems, biological materials and self-assembled systems where liquid crystal concepts and ordering are important, and the theory, modeling, and simulation of biological, nanostructured and self-assembled systems.

The participants will include invited speakers representing both academia and industry with a wide range of expertise in the topic areas. The group of participants will include a good number of junior scientists and graduate students, who will be given the opportunity to present posters and join in discussion. Free time and evening sessions will provide the opportunity to foster networking between students and junior researchers, to make connections with many of the leading scientists from a wide variety of fields, and to establish exciting collaborations.