PATTERNS IN MATERIALS
EID 456 / ChE 456, Fall 2026This course teaches students to recognize, understand, and engineer patterns emerging from the material world. The course begins with fundamentals: mathematics of patterns (symmetry), crystallography, identification of spatial and temporal periodicity using applied Fourier analysis, order parameters for detection of spatial symmetry, basics of computer simulation of excitable media. Applications covered include techniques such as: light scattering, wave transmission through ordered materials, cellular automata, oscillatory chemical reactions, autocatalytic self-replication, Turing patterns, and nucleation/growth of crystal geometries. Strong focus on computational modeling and exploration; students perform a final computational project to model and simulate a pattern of their choice.
Prerequisites:
programming (CS 102), physical chemistry (Ch 160/161/ESC 330) electromagnetic phenomena (Ph 213) differential equations (Ma 240)
Credits: 3.0
Meeting Hours: Tuesday 4-6, Wednesday 5-6
Instructor:
Abhishek Sharma (abhishek.sharma@cooper.edu)
Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering
metalab.cooper.edu