Faculty Directory
Monica Olvera de la Cruz

Lawyer Taylor Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry and (by courtesy) Chemical and Biological Engineering, Physics and Astronomy

Director, Center for Computation & Theory of Soft Materials

Deputy Director, Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science

Contact

2170 Campus Drive
Silverman Hall 4621
Evanston, IL 60208

847-491-7801Email Monica Olvera de la Cruz

Website

Olvera de la Cruz Group

Departments

Materials Science and Engineering

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Download CV

Education

Ph.D. Physics, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

B.A. Physics, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico


Research Interests

Research in the Olvera de la Cruz group is centered around the design and control of materials responsive to external stimuli. The group develops models to describe the structure and function of assemblies of heterogeneous molecules including amphiphiles, copolymers, and synthetic and biological polyelectrolytes, as well as multicomponent complex fluids. Work by the group has resulted in a revised model of ionic-driven assembly: demonstrating the electrostatic spontaneous symmetry breaking of ionic fibers and membranes, and identifying its relevance to biological functions and to the design of functional materials. The group's investigations into soft and condensed matter physics have advanced scientific knowledge and opened new research fields of technological importance, including gel electrophoresis dynamics, self-organization of molecular electrolytes into bio-mimetic materials, self-assembly of heterogeneous molecules into complex nanostructures, interface adsorption and segregation dynamics.


Significant Recognition

  • 2020 Member of the American Philosophical Society
  • 2017 Polymer Prize of the American Physical Society
  • 2016 Miller Institute Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley
  • 2012 Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2010 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow
  • 2010-2015 National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship
  • 2007 Engineering and Applied Sciences Cozzarelli Prize, Proceeding of the National Academies, National Academies
  • 2003 Visiting Professor, Service de Physique Theorique, Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, CE-Saclay, France
  • 2001 Fellow of the American Physical Society
  • 1993 Visiting Scientist, Service de Chimie Moleculaire, Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, CE-Saclay, France
  • 1990–95 NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award
  • 1990–92 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
  • 1989–94 David and Lucille Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering
  • 1988–93 National Institutes of Health FIRST Award

Significant Professional Service

  • International Scientific Committee Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle de la ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris), 2020-2026
  • Gordon Research Conference Board of Trustees, 2019-2025
  • Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Basic Energy Sciences, Department of Energy, Subcommittee of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC), 2017-2018
  • Scientific Advisory Board, CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain, 2017-present
  • Committee on Vision of the Future of Center-Based, Multidisciplinary Engineering Research, National Academy of Sciences, 2016
  • International Scientific Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Physics, Mainz, Germany, 2015-present
  • Senior Editor, ACS Central Science, 2015-2022
  • National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering, 2014
  • Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC), Department of Energy, 2012-2022
  • Scientific Member, Commissariat a l’Énergie Atomique (CE-SACLAY), 1995-97
  • Scientific Visitor, Service de Physique Théorique, CE-SACLAY, France, 2003
  • Advisory Committee, NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, 2005-09
  • Solid State Science Committee, National Research Council, 2006-09
  • Research at the Intersection of Physical and Life Sciences Committee, National Research Council, National Academies, 2007-09
  • Vice-chair Solid Sate Science Committee, National Research Council, 2008-10
  • Chair, Advisory Committee, NSF Division of Materials Research, 2007-09
  • Member, National Research Council Board of Physics and Astronomy
  • Chair, Condensed Matter and Materials Research Committee, National Research Council, 2010-12

Selected Publications

  • Mahapatra, Sayantan; Qian, Dingwen; Zhang, Ruihua; Yang, Shuliang; Li, Penghao; Feng, Yuanning; Zhang, Long; Wu, Huang; Seale, James S.W.; Das, Partha Jyoti; Jha, Prateek K.; Kohlstedt, Kevin Lee; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica; Stoddart, J. Fraser, Hydrogen-Bonded Fibrous Nanotubes Assembled from Trigonal Prismatic Building Blocks, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2024).
  • Xia, Jianshe; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera, Effect of molecular structure on the dynamics and viscoelasticity of vitrimers, Polymer (2024).
  • Girard, Martin; De La Cruz, Monica Olvera; Marko, John F.; Erbaş, Aykut, Heterogeneous flexibility can contribute to chromatin segregation in the cell nucleus, Physical Review E (2024).
  • López-Flores, Leticia; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera, Induced phase transformation in ionizable colloidal nanoparticles, European Physical Journal E (2023).
  • Shrestha, Ahis; Olvera De La Cruz, Monica, Enhanced phoretic self-propulsion of active colloids through surface charge asymmetry, Physical Review E (2024).
  • Haque Pial, Turash; Li, Yang; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica, Microscopically segregated ligand distribution in co-assembled peptide-amphiphile nanofibers, Soft Matter (2024).
  • Pogharian, Nicholas; dos Santos, Alexandre P.; Ehlen, Ali; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica, Electric fields near undulating dielectric membranes, Journal of Chemical Physics (2024).
  • Waltmann, Curt; Shrestha, Ahis; Olvera De La Cruz, Monica, Patterning of multicomponent elastic shells by gaussian curvature, Physical Review E (2024).
  • Aggarwal, A.; Kirkinis, E.; Olvera De La Cruz, M., Thermocapillary Migrating Odd Viscous Droplets, Physical review letters (2023).
  • Lin, Yange; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera, Colloidal superionic conductors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2023).
  • Lin, Yange; Olvera De La Cruz, Monica, Superionic Colloidal Crystals, Journal of Physical Chemistry B (2022).
  • Mills, Carolyn E.; Waltmann, Curt; Archer, Andre G.; Kennedy, Nolan W.; Abrahamson, Charlotte H.; Jackson, Alexander D.; Roth, Eric W.; Shirman, Sasha; Jewett, Michael C.; Mangan, Niall M.; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica; Tullman-Ercek, Danielle, Vertex protein PduN tunes encapsulated pathway performance by dictating bacterial metabolosome morphology, Nature communications (2022).
  • Erdosy, Daniel P.; Wenny, Malia B.; Cho, Joy; DelRe, Christopher; Walter, Miranda V.; Jiménez-Ángeles, Felipe; Qiao, Baofu; Sanchez, Ricardo; Peng, Yifeng; Polizzotti, Brian D.; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera; Mason, Jarad A., Microporous water with high gas solubilities, Nature (2022).
  • Waltmann, Curt; Mills, Carolyn E.; Wang, Jeremy; Qiao, Baofu; Torkelson, John M.; Tullman-Ercek, Danielle; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera, Functional enzyme–polymer complexes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022).
  • Jiménez-Ángeles, Felipe; Harmon, Katherine J.; Nguyen, Trung Dac; Fenter, Paul; De La Cruz, Monica Olvera, Nonreciprocal interactions induced by water in confinement, Physical Review Research 2(4) (2020).
  • Zhang, Zhengyan; Yuan, Hang; Dou, Yong; De La Cruz, Monica Olvera; Bishop, Kyle J.M., Quincke Oscillations of Colloids at Planar Electrodes, Physical review letters 126(25) (2021).
  • Li, Siyu; Matoz-Fernandez, Daniel A.; Aggarwal, Aaveg; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera, Chemically controlled pattern formation in self-oscillating elastic shells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118(10) (2021).
  • Li, Chuang; Lau, Garrett C.; Yuan, Hang; Aggarwal, Aaveg; Dominguez, Victor Lopez; Liu, Shuangping; Sai, Hiroaki; Palmer, Liam C.; Sather, Nicholas A.; Pearson, Tyler J.; Freedman, Danna E.; Amiri, Pedram Khalili; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera; Stupp, Samuel I., Fast and programmable locomotion of hydrogel-metal hybrids under light and magnetic fields, Science Robotics 5(49) (2020).
  • Waltmann, Curt; Asor, Roi; Raviv, Uri; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica, Assembly and Stability of Simian Virus 40 Polymorphs, ACS nano 14(4):4430-4443 (2020).