{"633326":{"#nid":"633326","#data":{"type":"news","title":" Elisabetta Matsumoto Is 2020 Cottrell Scholar for Research on the Math and Science Behind Knitting ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E is a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rescorp.org\/news\/2020\/02\/rcsa-names-25-new-cottrell-scholars-for-2020\u0022\u003E2020 Cottrell Scholar\u003C\/a\u003E, thanks to her efforts to stitch together her two passions: science and knitting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/elisabetta-matsumoto\u0022\u003EElisabetta Matsumoto\u003C\/a\u003E, who has been at Georgia Tech since 2016, is one of 25 new Cottrell Scholars Award winners announced by the private \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rescorp.org\/\u0022\u003EResource Corporation for Science Advancement\u003C\/a\u003E. According to their website, the awards honor and help to develop \u0026ldquo;outstanding teacher-scholars who are recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research programs and their potential for academic leadership.\u0026rdquo; The winners study in the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and astronomy, and each recipient receives $100,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I was so excited when I heard about the Cottrell Scholar award,\u0026rdquo; Matsumoto says. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve known about it for a very long time as many of my friends and physicists I look up to have gotten it over the years. I love the idea that it\u0026rsquo;s a community of teacher-scholars that promotes a holistic sense of education and research. These colleagues are ones with whom I will be able to work on educational initiatives and get support and mentorship in my research areas.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMatsumoto won the Cottrell Scholar Award for her proposal, \u0026ldquo;Knotty Knits: Using Topological Constraints to Program Geometry and Elastic Response in Knitted Textiles with Lattice Defects.\u0026rdquo; The proposal stems from her National Science Foundation-funded grant entitled \u0026ldquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/matsumoto.gatech.edu\/research.html\u0022\u003EWhat A Tangled Web We Weave\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026rdquo; a five-year project in which Matsumoto is researching the mathematics, physics, and engineering of knitting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn May 2019, \u003Cem\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/em\u003E published a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/17\/science\/math-physics-knitting-matsumoto.html\u0022\u003Estory\u003C\/a\u003E highlighting Matsumoto\u0026rsquo;s yarn-based research. The story was inspired by her presentation, \u0026ldquo;Twisted Topological Tangles,\u0026rdquo; at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.aps.org\/\u0022\u003Ethe American Physical Society\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026rsquo;s annual meeting in March of that year. The headline for the story incorporated a quote from Matsumoto: \u0026ldquo;\u0026lsquo;Knitting is Coding,\u0026rsquo; and Yarn is Programmable in this Physics Lab.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;\u003Cem\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/em\u003E article was really momentous for our group,\u0026rdquo; Matsumoto says. \u0026ldquo;We have received words of excitement and encouragement from all across the globe! I think it has really captured people\u0026rsquo;s imaginations. I think it\u0026rsquo;s a boost to [graduate students] Mike Dimitriyev, Shashank Markande and Krishma Singal who have worked so hard on bringing this project to fruition. I\u0026rsquo;m really happy to see so many people appreciating their hard work.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMatsumoto, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ams.org\/news?news_id=5144\u0022\u003Ewho has been knitting since she was a child\u003C\/a\u003E, is the principal investigator of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/matsumoto.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMatsumoto Group\u003C\/a\u003E, which explores the geometry of materials. A paragraph on her lab\u0026rsquo;s website explains her fascination with knitting as physics, along with the possible practical applications of her research:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESpinning and weaving were some of the first technologies developed by man. These historical inventions continue to influence daily life, yet only at an empirical level do we understand the remarkable physical and material properties they can achieve. Spinning simply adds twist to fibers, vastly increasing tensile strength while maintaining flexibility. Weaving and knitting use single threads to generate durable yet pliant two-dimensional surfaces\u0026hellip;Building upon microscopic properties of the thread, from twist to chemistry to friction, my group will seek a set of local rules that control the global behavior of fabrics. Such a constitutive model will develop an understanding of the full range of fabric deformations, crucial for such applications as mechanoresponsive garments to biocompatible weaves and networks used in tissue engineering. Beyond technological advances, such a model will shed light on fundamental questions, such as polymer entanglement or the mechanical properties of biological tissue and networks.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMatsumoto has also used virtual reality in her research into topology, which is the study of surfaces that can be bent, curved, twisted or otherwise deformed, but never broken or torn. As her website describes, Matsumoto and her fellow researchers study the geometry and topology of soft materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I will be continuing my work on using virtual reality as an educational tool in physics and mathematics education. This type of environment [the Cottrell Scholars] is so beneficial to the community because it helps us to communicate best practices for education and new educational initiatives,\u0026rdquo; Matsumoto says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPrevious Georgia Tech recipients of the Cottrell Scholar Award include \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/Collard\/\u0022\u003EDavid Collard\u003C\/a\u003E of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E, along with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/michael-schatz\u0022\u003EMichael Schatz\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/tamara-bogdanovi%C4%87\u0022\u003ETamara Bogdanovi\u0107\u003C\/a\u003E, both of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Matsumoto on how to weave a major science award out of yarn and physics, virtual reality in education, New York Times feature"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EElisabetta Matsumoto, an assistant professor in the School of Physics, is a 2020 Cotrell Scholar thanks to her research on the mathematics and physics hidden in the knots and weaves of knitting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Matsumoto on how to weave a major science award out of yarn and physics, virtual reality in education, New York Times feature"}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2020-03-05 19:35:55","changed_gmt":"2020-03-05 19:50:47","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"633327":{"id":"633327","type":"image","title":"Elisabetta Matsumoto, assistant professor in the School of Physics and 2020 Cottrell Scholar ","body":null,"created":"1583437232","gmt_created":"2020-03-05 19:40:32","changed":"1583437232","gmt_changed":"2020-03-05 19:40:32","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240977","name":"Matsumoto headshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20headshot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20headshot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":775722,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Matsumoto%20headshot.jpg?itok=Fb5d3OSL"}},"633328":{"id":"633328","type":"image","title":"Elisabetta Matsumoto (center) knits with two of her Matsumoto Group lab students at Georgia Tech. (Photo Jonathan Kelso, The New York Times.)","body":null,"created":"1583437385","gmt_created":"2020-03-05 19:43:05","changed":"1583437385","gmt_changed":"2020-03-05 19:43:05","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240978","name":"Matsumoto knitting.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20knitting.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20knitting.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":305701,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Matsumoto%20knitting.jpg?itok=yqqqn6xs"}},"633329":{"id":"633329","type":"image","title":"Matsumoto uses virtual reality technology in her physics research. ","body":null,"created":"1583437490","gmt_created":"2020-03-05 19:44:50","changed":"1583437490","gmt_changed":"2020-03-05 19:44:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240979","name":"Matsumoto VR.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20VR.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Matsumoto%20VR.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":32796,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Matsumoto%20VR.jpg?itok=9FG03vNS"}}},"media_ids":["633327","633328","633329"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"173838","name":"Elisabetta Matsumoto"},{"id":"184181","name":"Cottrell Scholars"},{"id":"2748","name":"mathematics"},{"id":"146391","name":"knitting"},{"id":"184182","name":"weaving"},{"id":"145251","name":"virtual reality"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}