Our work investigates the mechanics of highly deformable interfaces in three main contexts: soft adhesion, fluid surface instabilities, and plant biophysics. We complement this work with other soft matter mechanics research, especially regarding defects in amorphous materials, and through collaborations contribute to a broad range of research from soft matter to neuroscience to biologically-relevant crystallography.
For our published work, see the Publications page, or Prof. Jensen’s Google Scholar page.
Active research areas in the laboratory include:
Soft Adhesion and Contact Mechanics
- Elastocapillary adhesion of soft gel microspheres
- Dynamics of making and breaking adhesive contacts
- Deformation-dependent adhesion with soft polymers
Funding: NSF Grant CMMI-2129463; Research Corporation Cottrell Scholars Collaborative Grant
Fluid Surface Instabilities
- The physics of leaking fluids: How (and when) a leak can stop itself
- Naturally-occurring surface-shock starburst instabilities
Funding: ACS Petroleum Research Fund UNI Grant
Plant Biophysics
- Water-air interface mechanics during asexual reproduction of M. polymorpha
Funding: NSF Grant PHY-2015208
Other Soft Matter Mechanics & Materials Science Research
- Microscopic mechanisms of plastic deformation in colloidal glasses
- Active flow transport in decentralized biological networks
Additional funding supporting our research has come from Williams College for individual students via Allison Davis Research Fellowships (2019-2023), the Edward N. Perry 1968 and Cynthia W. Wood Summer Science Research Fellowship for experimental soft condensed matter research (2021-present), the Summer Science Program, and the Science Center; and for PI Jensen via startup funding and a Class of 1945 World Fellowship (2021-2022).
(last updated January 2024)