Living active matter
Cellular motion, cytoskeletal dynamics, collective migration, and biological organization far from equilibrium.
Save the date · Western Puerto Rico
Frontiers of Living and Colloidal Active Systems
An international conference open to researchers, students, and others interested in how energy, motion, and collective behavior organize matter across living and synthetic systems.
March 8–12, 2027 · Scientific program March 9–11 · Venue details forthcoming.
When
March 8–12, 2027
Scientific program March 9–11
Where
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Venue details forthcoming
Format
Focused, interdisciplinary
Invited talks · posters · discussion
Important dates
Plan your participation.
Step 1: Free pre-registration. Express your intention to attend, optionally submit a poster abstract, and apply for travel support in one form. Pre-registration does not reserve a place. The form closes December 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4).
Step 2: Final registration and payment. Complete this separate step later to confirm attendance. Paid registration is planned to open January 1, 2027.
Pre-register — express interestView dates, registration rates, poster abstracts, and Travel Awards →
- Now–December 31, 2026
- Combined pre-registration, poster abstracts & travel awards
- January 1, 2027
- Paid registration planned to open
- January 15, 2027
- Poster and conditional travel-award decisions
- January 20, 2027
- Participation confirmation
- January 29, 2027
- Final agenda and poster roster
- January 31, 2027
- Early registration ends at 11:59 p.m. AST
- February 1, 2027
- Regular registration rates begin
- March 8, 2027
- Arrival and welcome
- March 9–11, 2027
- Scientific program
- March 12, 2027
- Departure
Scientific scope
Where living dynamics meet engineered matter.
Active matter connects physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology through systems whose components consume energy and generate motion. The conference is designed to create sustained exchange across communities that do not always meet in the same room.
Colloidal active systems
Self-propelled particles, active suspensions, interactions, assembly, and transport.
Shared principles
Emergence, fluctuations, control, materials design, modeling, and experimental tools across scales.
Who should attend
An open international meeting.
FLCAS welcomes faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, experimentalists, theorists, computational researchers, industry scientists, and others interested in living or synthetic active systems. Attendance is not limited to invited speakers or members of the organizing institutions.
New abstract submissions are for posters only and will be reviewed subject to program capacity. You may also attend without presenting.
See participation pathways →Why this conference
A smaller meeting for deeper scientific exchange.
Research on active systems now spans biological organization, synthetic microswimmers, colloidal interactions, collective dynamics, theory, simulation, and experiment. FLCAS is designed to connect those communities around shared mechanisms and unresolved questions.
Preliminary architecture
Built for exchange, not just presentation.
The developing program combines invited talks with poster sessions, structured discussion, and generous informal time. Meet the 15 confirmed invited speakers.
Explore the program framework →- Day 1 Foundations, shared language, opening sessions
- Day 2 Cross-cutting themes, posters, discussion
- Day 3 Frontiers, synthesis, future collaborations
Participation support
Travel Awards can help broaden access.
Apply for limited, competitive travel support in the combined application. Select Yes to see the funding questions; select No to skip them. Attendance-only applicants may also request support.
Applications are open now through December 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time. Conditional decisions will be emailed January 15, 2027; recipients must confirm by January 20. Review the full instructions before booking expenses you expect an award to cover.
Review Travel Award details
Why Puerto Rico · Why the west
A scientific meeting designed around access, place, and sustained exchange.
Puerto Rico offers a distinctive setting for an international research conference, connecting a globally distributed scientific community with a major U.S. research and education ecosystem. It is accessible from major continental gateways and can support a more cost-conscious meeting than many traditional conference destinations. International participants should confirm the U.S. entry requirements that apply to their citizenship and travel status.
Locating the conference in western Puerto Rico brings the active-matter community close to the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez. That proximity expands opportunities for local undergraduate and graduate students to engage with visiting researchers, strengthens the international visibility of research conducted in Puerto Rico, and connects the meeting to an established center of science and engineering.
The west also supports the conference’s collaborative format. A concentrated venue near Mayagüez can keep lectures, posters, meals, and informal conversation close together, creating the sustained interaction needed for new ideas to move across countries and across theory, experiment, computation, biology, physics, and engineering.
Explore western Puerto Rico travel planning →The destination
Western Puerto Rico, beyond the conference room.
Mayagüez sits between the Caribbean coast and some of Puerto Rico’s most memorable western landscapes. Nearby Cabo Rojo and Rincón offer calm-water beaches, surf culture, sunsets, and coastal communities that give visiting participants a strong sense of place.
Find preliminary guidance for airports, hotels, rental cars, taxis, Uber, Lyft, and private transfers on the Travel page.
Plan travel to the west coast →
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Organizing team
Across institutions and disciplines.
Ubaldo M. Córdova-Figueroa
University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez
Igor Aronson
Penn State
Ayusman Sen
Penn State
Image credits: Igor Aronson portrait, Penn State Engineering; Ayusman Sen portrait, Penn State Materials Science and Engineering.
Support & co-organization
