On April 24, 2015 CEE Department Head Markus Buehler and Professor Pedro Reis presented in the two-day Active Matter Summit (AMS) – a conference led by researchers as well as government, public institution and industry leaders. “Combining small building blocks to build dynamical large-scale systems, and merging the concepts of material and structures, is a frontier of civil engineering that provides new opportunities for design and sustainability,” said Buehler, who presented his work on the study of materials by design. Reis’ lecture focused on his work on smart, morphable surfaces that can be used to enhance the aerodynamic performance of structures by actively switching and tuning complex topography on demand. Also speaking in the conference was artist Tomás Saraceno, whose fascination with researching the morphology of spider webs has merged with Buehler’s. For more information on the event, please see here.