Juan de Pablo
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Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology, New York University
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Executive Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Dr. Juan de Pablo is the University’s inaugural Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology, and the Executive Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He leads cross-University, multidisciplinary, and globally focused efforts to accelerate the momentum of NYU’s vast science and technology enterprise for the purposes of solving humanity’s largest challenges. Dovetailing with those efforts, de Pablo steers Tandon’s engineering research and education to play a central role in addressing a multitude of areas, from human health, to advances in materials discovery, to the sustainability of the planet.
Before joining NYU, Dr. de Pablo served as the Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories, and Global Initiatives at the University of Chicago; the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; and a Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. Prior to that, he served as the Howard Curler Distinguished Professor and Hilldale Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland.
A prominent materials scientist and chemical engineer, de Pablo’s research focuses on polymers, biological macromolecules such as proteins and DNA, glasses, and liquid crystals. He is a leader in developing molecular models and advanced computational approaches to elucidate complex molecular processes over wide ranges of length and time scales. He has developed advanced algorithms to design and predict the structure and properties of complex fluids and solids at a molecular level, and has been a pioneer in the use of data-driven machine learning approaches for materials design.
Dr. de Pablo is the author or co-author of well over 650 publications and a textbook on Molecular Engineering Thermodynamics. He holds more than 25 patents, one of which has been deemed critical to the semiconductor industry’s miniaturization goals and one of which is now used throughout the world to stabilize proteins and cells, including probiotics, in glassy materials over extended periods of time.
His many honors include the Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society in 2018, the DuPont Medal for Excellence in Nutrition and Health Sciences in 2016, the Intel Patterning Science Award in 2015, and the Charles Stine Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2011.
In 2016, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering for the “design of macromolecular products and processes via scientific computation.” In 2022 he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and is a foreign correspondent member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences.
Amongst other distinctions, he has delivered the Lacey Lectures at Caltech (2020), the Dodge Lectures at Yale (2018), and the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical and Physical Sciences Lecture (2018). He has chaired the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation and the Committee on Condensed Matter and Materials Research at the National Research Council. He is the founding editor of Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, and served as deputy editor of Sciences Advances and Physical review Letters. He served as the co-director of the NIST Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD) from 2013 to 2024.
Education
University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Select Publications
Zhang, R., A. Mozaffari, and J.J. de Pablo, Logic operations with active topological defects. Science Advances, 2022. 8(8).
Rumyantsev, A.M., O.V. Borisov, and J.J. de Pablo, Structure and Dynamics of Hybrid Colloid-Polyelectrolyte Coacervates. Macromolecules, 2023. 56(4): p. 1713-1730.
Atzin, N., et al., Minimal Model of Solitons in Nematic Liquid Crystals. Physical Review Letters, 2023. 131(18).
Zhang, R., et al., Spatiotemporal control of liquid crystal structure and dynamics through activity patterning. Nature Materials, 2021. 20(6): p. 875.
Molla, M.R., et al., Dynamic actuation of glassy polymersomes through isomerization of a single azobenzene unit at the block copolymer interface. Nature Chemistry, 2018. 10(6): p. 659-666.
Wu, Q., et al., Poly -n- catenanes: Synthesis of molecular interlocked chains. Science, 2017. 358(6369): p. 1434-1439.
Sadati, M., et al., Molecular Structure of Canonical Liquid Crystal Interfaces. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017. 139(10): p. 3841-3850.
Freeman, G., et al., DNA Shape Dominates Sequence Affinity in Nucleosome Formation. Phys. Rev. Letters, 2013. 113, 16, 168101.
Ruiz, R., et al., Density multiplication and improved lithography by directed block copolymer assembly, Science, 2008. 32, 589, 936.
Buchanan, Le.E. et al., Mechanism of IAPP amyloid fibril formation involves an intermediate with a transient β-sheet, PNAS, 2013. 110 (48) , pp.19285-19290.
Singh, S; Ediger, MD and de Pablo, JJ, Ultrastable glasses from in silico vapour deposition, Nature Materials, 2013. 12 (2) , pp.139-144.
Jendrejack J., et al., DNA dynamics in a microchannel. Phys. Rev. Lett., 2003. 91, 3, 038102.
DS Fryer, PF Nealey, JJ de Pablo. “Thermal probe measurements of the glass transition temperature for ultrathin polymer films as a function of thickness.” Macromolecules 33 (17), 6439-6447. (2000)
JA Torres, PF Nealey, JJ de Pablo. “Molecular simulation of ultrathin polymeric films near the glass transition.” Physical Review Letters 85 (15), 3221. (2000)
IH Lin, DS Miller, PJ Bertics, CJ Murphy, JJ de Pablo, NL Abbott. “Endotoxin-induced structural transformations in liquid crystalline droplets.” Science 332 (6035), 1297-1300. (2011)
Research News
Shape-shifting particles let scientists control how fluids flow
Imagine a liquid that flows freely one moment, then stiffens into a near-solid the next, and then can switch back with a simple change in temperature. Researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and NYU Tandon have now developed such a material, using tiny particles that can change their shape and stiffness on demand. Their research paper “Tunable shear thickening, aging, and rejuvenation in suspensions of shape-memory endowed liquid crystalline particles,” published in PNAS, demonstrates a new way to regulate how dense suspensions — mixtures of solid particles in a fluid — behave under stress.
These new particles are made from liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), a material that combines the structure of liquid crystals with the flexibility of rubber. When heated or cooled, the particles change shape: they soften and become round at higher temperatures, and stiffen into irregular, angular forms at lower ones. This change has a dramatic effect on how the suspension flows.
From Smooth to Stiff and Back Again
Dense suspensions are found in everyday products like paints, toothpaste, and cement. Under certain conditions, these materials can thicken unpredictably under force, a behavior known as shear thickening. In some cases, the thickening becomes so extreme that the material jams and stops flowing altogether. This can cause problems in processing and manufacturing, where smooth, consistent flow is essential.
The research team, co-led by UChicago PME professor of Molecular Engineering Stuart Rowan and Juan de Pablo, formerly at UChicago and now Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology at NYU and Executive Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, designed LCE particles whose shapes can be programmed during synthesis. They found that suspensions made from more irregular, "potato-shaped" particles thickened much more under stress than those made from smoother, "pea-shaped" ones.
But the key breakthrough came with temperature control. At lower temperatures, the potato-shaped particles were rigid and irregular, and their suspensions exhibited strong shear thickening — resisting flow when stress increased. But as the temperature rose past 45–50 °C, the particles transformed into softer, rounder shapes, and the suspension became much easier to stir or pump. The researchers showed that this change could be repeated over and over again.
“The basic behavior is akin to what one observes with corn starch and water, where under small shear the material is a liquid, but when submitted to high shear it is a solid. There are several factors that play a role in such shear behavior, including shape and stiffness of the particles in the suspensions. Here we show that it is possible to design stimuli-response particles that allow access to suspensions with tunable flow behavior,” said Rowan.
Chuqiao Chen, first author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the time of the research, added, “In a narrow temperature window, we saw a full transition from a jammed, thick state to a freely flowing one. It’s like flipping a switch on how the fluid behaves.”
A Suspension with a Memory
Over time, even in the absence of flow, the particle suspensions tended to settle into more solid-like states in a process known as “aging.” The particles clump together and form structures that resist movement. This behavior, common in dense materials, can make them hard to work with after storage.
However, the LCE-based suspensions have a built-in solution. When the aged suspensions were heated above their shape-transition temperature, the particles relaxed into spherical forms and the clusters broke apart. The suspension returned to a fluid state, effectively resetting itself. This transformation did not require stirring or mixing, just a brief heating and cooling cycle.
The ability to control both particle shape and stiffness with temperature gives researchers an entirely new handle on how dense fluids behave. Traditionally, tuning the flow properties of suspensions required adjusting how many particles were present or modifying the fluid’s chemistry. With this approach, the same suspension can be adjusted simply by changing the temperature.
The potential uses are wide-ranging. In additive manufacturing (3D printing), for example, preventing jamming and controlling flow are major concerns. In industrial mixing, being able to “switch off” thickening behavior could help improve efficiency. The team’s findings suggest that even modest heating or cooling could achieve this.
The research opens a path toward materials that can flow, jam, and unjam on cue — not by changing their contents, but by altering how their parts are arranged and how they interact.
In addition to Rowan, de Pablo and Chen, the study's authors are Carina D. V. Martinez Narvaez, Nina Chang, and Carlos Medina Jimenez of the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; Joseph M. Dennis of the Army Research Laboratory; and Heinrich M. Jaeger of the University of Chicago's James Franck Institute.
The University of Chicago Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (which is funded by the National Science Foundation) and the Army Research Laboratory Cooperative Agreement provided funding for the research.
Scientists create light-powered microscopic swimmers that could dramatically advance drug delivery
Scientists have created tiny disk-shaped particles that can swim on their own when hit with light, akin to microscopic robots that move through a special liquid without any external motors or propellers.
Published in Advanced Functional Materials, the work shows how these artificial swimmers could one day be used to deliver cargo in a variety of fluidic situations, with potential applications in drug delivery, water pollutant clean up, or the creation of new types of smart materials that change their properties on command.
"The essential new principles we discovered — how to make microscopic objects swim on command using simple materials that undergo phase transitions when exposed to controllable energy sources — pave the way for applications that range from design of responsive fluids, controlled drug delivery, and new classes of sensors, to name a few,” explained lead researcher Juan de Pablo.
Currently the Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology at NYU and Executive Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, de Pablo conducted this research in collaboration with postdoctoral researchers and faculty at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, the Paulson School of Engineering at Harvard University, and the Universidad Autonoma of San Luis Potosi, in Mexico
The research team designed tiny flat discs about 200 micrometers across, which is roughly twice the width of a human hair. These structures are made from dried food dye and propylene glycol, creating solid discs with bumpy surfaces that are essential for swimming.
When placed in a nematic liquid crystal (the same material used in LCD screens) and hit with green LED light, the discs start swimming on their own. The food dye absorbs the light and converts it to heat, warming up the liquid crystal around the disc. This causes the organized liquid crystal molecules (normally lined up like soldiers in formation) to “melt” and become jumbled and disorganized, creating an imbalance that pushes the disc forward.
Depending on temperature and light brightness, the discs behave differently. Under the right conditions, they achieve sustained swimming at speeds of about half a micrometer per second, notable for something this tiny.
The most spectacular results happen when the discs can move in three dimensions. As they swim, they create beautiful flower-like patterns of light visible under a microscope. These patterns evolve from simple 4-petaled shapes to intricate 12-petaled designs as the light gets brighter.
"The platelet lifts due to an incompatibility between the liquid crystal's preferred molecular orientation at different surfaces," said de Pablo. "This creates an uneven elastic response that literally pushes one side of the platelet upward."
What distinguishes this discovery is how different it is from other swimming methods. Unlike bacteria that use whip-like tails or other artificial swimmers that need expensive chemical reactions, these discs create movement using a simple melting transition, cheap materials and basic LED lights. Plus, they have perfect on/off control: when light is turned off, they stop swimming immediately.
This research taps into the growing field of "active matter", which are materials that can harvest energy from their surroundings and turn it into movement. While these specific discs rely on light and heat to change the extent of order in a liquid crystal , the principles could be adapted to create swimmers in other types of liquid or solid media, powered by light or body heat, for example.
The paper's lead author is Antonio Tavera-Vázquez (Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago), who is a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Juan de Pablo. The team also includes Danai Montalvan-Sorrosa (John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and the Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología Celular at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México); Gustavo R. Perez-Lemus (Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and NYU Tandon currently); Otilio E. Rodriguez-Lopez (Facultad de Ciencias and Instituto de Física at Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí in Mexico); Jose A. Martinez-Gonzalez (Facultad de Ciencias at Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí); and Vinothan N. Manoharan (John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Physics at Harvard University).
Funding for this research was primarily provided by the Department of Energy, Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences, with additional support for some aspects of the experiments and equipment provided by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office MURI program, and the National Institutes of Health.
Tavera‐Vázquez, Antonio, et al. (2025) Microplate active migration emerging from light‐induced phase transitions in a nematic liquid crystal.” Advanced Functional Materials
