Matt Helgeson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCSB. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. Before joining UCSB in 2012, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Novartis Center for Continuous Manufacturing at MIT. Prof. Helgeson’s research focuses on understanding the colloidal behavior and rheology of nanoparticles, emulsions and proteins in self-assembling fluids, including the development of optical and scattering-based techniques for characterizing their structure and dynamics. His group’s current interests are aimed at harnessing the nanoscale behavior of polymer-colloid mixtures to design multi-functional particulates and gels for nanomaterial synthesis, biotechnology and energy conversion. Recent awards include both the Victor K. LaMer and Unilever awards from the ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Science, the inaugural Distinguished Young Rheologist Award from TA Instruments, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.