COMPASS All Hands-on Meeting, held on December 5 and 6, 2024, offered a dynamic forum for participants to explore advancements in complex materials and foster global collaborations. Attendees included faculty, graduate students, and research fellows, totaling 90 guests representing the diverse institutions part of COMPASS.
The meeting focused on three primary objectives:
- Understanding practical particle systems characterized by high heterogeneity and polydispersity.
- Establishing practice-guided collaborations to tackle challenges in ‘messy’ particle systems.
- Stimulating entrepreneurship within COMPASS and promoting science diplomacy, particularly through partnerships between the USA and Africa.
Participants engaged in discussions centered around several critical technological focus areas, including:
- 3D printing
- Additive manufacturing
- Particle-based coatings
- Sustainability technologies
- Integration of ML/AI technologies with Graph Theory and Network Science
All participants had also the opportunity to try the Virtual Reality system which is part of the COMPASS Particle Systems Course (PSC).
Key Highlights from Meeting Sessions
Day 1: December 5, 2024
The event began with an introductory session by Prof. Nicholas Kotov, COMPASS Director. Prof. Kotov’s presentation, “COMPASS at a Glance,” provided an overview of the methodologies and applications that drive complex material innovations. Key points included:
Key points included:
- A structured approach to materials design that integrates graph theory and microscopy.
- Applications in energy storage, nanomedicine, and environmental technology.
- The importance of interdisciplinary partnerships to drive innovation and efficiency in material production.
- The role of graph theory in reducing computational demands while mapping material properties such as mechanical, electrical, and thermal characteristics.
Following Prof. Kotov’s introduction, the meeting featured a session on Graph Theory in Materials Design, in which Prof. Xiaoming Mao and Dr. Marcos Martinez highlighted the use of graph theory for predicting material properties from structural data and for predicting stress propagation in disordered soft materials, highlighting crucial edges for identifying material failure.
Following the Additive Manufacturing Innovations, took place with Prof. Orlin Velev who discussed multiphasic inks for 3D printing and Prof. Ying Diao who focused on advancements in organic electronics, emphasizing innovative printing techniques.
Dr. Stacy Manni from AFRL detailed upcoming funding opportunities, sparking interest in proposal submissions from COMPASS researchers.
The meeting also represented an amazing opportunity for COMPASS Junior Scientists to present their recently awarded projects. Young scientists, through a call for proposal from the COMPASS Junior scientist board (JSB), have being awarded mini grants with the opportunity to learn how to independently administer a grant from research and financial prospective. Nine junior scientist teams presented their research projects, which included topics from photocatalytic materials to graph theory applications in 3D printing.
The afternoon sessions focused on COMPASS’s initiatives to strengthen partnership with Africa and encourage entrepreneurship. Prof. Martin Thuo, COMPASS Deputy Director, emphasized the impact of the CERA fellowship, which not only offers African researchers/professors the opportunity to collaborate in COMPASS labs, but also allows students from USA COMPASS Lab to visit and collaborate with African research lab. A particular focus of the presentation was on science diplomacy and on the importance of integrating entrepreneurship within the CERA fellowship to empower young African researcher to start business that can benefit the local community.
This was further illustrated by guest speakers Dr. Yonas Gizaw, CEO at GreenChemSolution and Dr. Victor Konde, Scientific Affairs Officer with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), who shared insights on entrepreneurship in Africa and its potential economic impact. Dr. Gizaw emphasized how it is important in order to make a difference in the vision of entrepreneurship in Africa, being able to identify the “Jobs-to-be-done” and the “Problem to be solved”. On a similar note Dr. Konde, emphasized how the African population will account for over 40 % of global active workforce in 25-65 years and showed some of the current efforts in Africa, as Nanotech businesses in Africa which do not necessary means high-tech but they are able to make a real impact, some example include Waterpod, which offers low-cost purified water refills in South Africa or Sabinano, a company which manufactures carbon-based nanomaterials.
An engaging entrepreneurship workshop led by Bill Adamowski provided attendees with practical strategies for developing a go-to-market strategy and validated the need for their innovations. Adamowski urged researchers to incorporate storytelling in their pitch presentations and encouraged student and postdoc involvement in integrating research with industry needs. The announcement of a $25K startup pitch competition underscored COMPASS’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurial skills among researchers. Marc Missirilian concluded Day 1 by highlighting the Michigan Climate Venture, a program that empowers graduate students to manage a climate tech venture fund, promoting entrepreneurship education and skill development.
Day 2: December 6, 2024
The morning of Day 2 focused on advances in additive manufacturing. Prof. Joerg Lahann discussed biomimetic manufacturing platforms for patient-specific cell therapies. Dr. Wanjiao Liu from Ford Motor Company addressed challenges in battery electrode manufacturing, emphasizing the complexity of micro and nanoscale structures. To conclude the session, Prof. Nicholas L. Abbott shared insights into liquid crystal topologies and their potential for material assembly and disassembly.
A cross-cultural communication training session by the U-M International Center provided insights on effective communication in diverse cultural environments, reflecting the global nature of the COMPASS Center.
The closing sessions explored opportunities in graph-empowered materials design. Prof. Joseph De Simone, COMPASS EAB member from Stanford University, discussed innovative manufacturing techniques and the potential of multi-material systems. Dr. Timothy Sirk focused on polymeric materials suitable for extreme environments, and Dr. Matt Hauwiller presented results from the COMPASS Seagate Grand-Challenge, which offered students industrial research experience in a competitive setting.
The event concluded with the enthusiastic announcement of the $25K startup pitch competition, reinforcing COMPASS’s role in aiding researchers and junior faculty translate their ideas into market-ready technologies.
This event demonstrated COMPASS’s dedication to advancing the field of complex materials through collaboration, innovation, and education. It reinforced its role as a catalyst for groundbreaking research and international partnerships, providing a platform for participants to engage, learn, and contribute to the future of materials science.
Snapshot of the event:

