Student Affairs Report - 2025
The Society of Rheology (SOR) community thrives when its student members and early-career researchers are engaged and encouraged. Over the past year, a range of student-led activities has been organized under the support of SoR.
Future of Rheology, a well-attended virtual seminar series, showcases outstanding work by students, postdoctoral scholars, and early-career researchers, while sparking engaging discussions with a broad audience. Each month offers something new to think about: Why does vegan mayo taste different from traditional mayo? What can we learn from watching a drop land on glass? How does cornstarch connect to network science? How do molecules move inside a cell?
Figure 1. Demographics of speakers for the Future of Rheology seminar series (2025)
But the series is about more than just intriguing science. It also shines a spotlight on the people behind the work, giving student researchers greater visibility within the community. We are continuing to expand our reach through newsletters and social media. To recognize outstanding contributions, top speakers of the year are invited to present in a mini-session at the annual meeting. This year, six outstanding speakers from 2024 seminars presented at the 2025 SoR Annual Meeting in Santa Fe.
Figure 2. Left: Poster for the January 2026 Future of Rheology virtual seminar. Right: Speakers and organizers at the Future of Rheology mini-session, Society of Rheology Annual Meeting (2025), Santa Fe. From left to right: Arshiya Bhadu (co-chair), Manish Kumar, Anutka Datta, Michel Orsi (second place), James Grieber, Alp Sunol (first place), Nadia Nikolova (third place), and Chuqiao Chen (co-chair).
It is well-recognized fact that among all scientists, rheologists are experts at having fun. As a brief departure from our Trivia night tradition, we hosted a Student Pottery Night in the artistic setting of Santa Fe. While we did not finish all the drink tickets, our clay-working skills certainly impressed the owners, who were prompted to ask, “What exactly do you study in rheology?” “Well,” we replied, “we study the deformation of squashy things.”
Figure 3. Student Pottery Night at the 2025 SoR Annual Meeting in Santa Fe. The challenge of the month featured Halloween pumpkins, though several rheometer-inspired creations were particularly impressive. See photos above for the “rheo” masters of clay.