Opportunities in theoretical and computational polymeric materials and soft matter

Soft materials are abundant in nature and ubiquitous in living systems. Elucidating their multi-faceted properties and underlying mechanisms is not only theoretically challenging and important in its own right, but also serves as the foundation for new materials and applications that will have wide-ranging impact on technology and the national economy. Recent initiatives in computation and data-driven materials discovery, such as the Materials Genome Initiative and the National Science Foundation Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (NSF-DMREF) program, recognize and highlight the many future opportunities in the field. Building upon similar past efforts, a workshop was held at the University of California, Santa Barbara in October 2013 to specifically identify the central challenges and opportunities in theoretical and computational studies of polymeric as well as non-polymeric soft materials. This article presents a summary of the main findings of the workshop.