SEAM Lab
The Synthetic, Emergent and Animate Materials Lab, directed by Carson Bruns, designs materials that behave a little more like living things than materials usually do. We synthesize molecular and particulate building blocks, let them assemble themselves into larger structures, and engineer the properties that emerge when many small parts interact: sensing, memory, motion, toughness, self-repair.
What comes out ranges widely. Smart tattoos that measure ultraviolet and gamma radiation from inside the skin, and inks you can erase and redraw with light. Adhesives and water-rich rubbers cross-linked by nano-pulleys that slide rather than snap. Compostable membranes that harvest electricity where fresh water meets salt. Soft actuators that give books moving illustrations and fingertips artificial touch. Robots that share a bench with chemists.
We are a chemistry laboratory inside a design institute, which means our work gets judged by chemists, engineers, designers, and occasionally by dermatologists and tattoo artists. We think that is the right set of critics.
Formerly the Emergent Nanomaterials Laboratory. (Note: The video above was produced when the lab was known by its former name.)
SEAM Lab News
SEAM Lab Director
SEAM Lab Associated Researchers
SEAM Lab Alumni
SEAM Lab Publications
Diane N. Jung, Caleb Escobedo, Noah Liska, Maitrey Gramopadhye, Daniel Szafir, Alessandro Roncone, and Carson J. Bruns. 2026. "". In: Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI Companion '26). (Edinburgh, Scotland, March 16-19, 2026).
Diane Jung,听Kailey Shara and听Carson Bruns. 2025. 鈥鈥. In: PLoS One 20(8). (August 12, 2025).
Jung DN, Burleson G,听Bruns CJ. "." In:听Proceedings of the ASME 2025 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 4: 22nd International Conference on Design Education (DEC); 30th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference (DFMLC); 37th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology (DTM). (Anaheim, CA, August 17鈥20, 2025).
Jesse L. Butterfield, Jennifer R. Quigley, Carson J. Bruns. 2024. "". In:听Advanced Functional Materials, Volume 34, Issue 40.听(October听2024).
DN Jung, CJ Bruns.听2024. "". 2024 International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC-2024). (Washington, DC, August 25-28, 2024).
John-Baptist Kauzya,听Brandon Hayes,听Austin C. Hayes,听Jamie F. Thompson,听Charlotte Bellerjeau,听Kent Evans,听Jorge Osio-Norgaard,听Gaurang Gavai,听Karan Dikshit,听Carson Bruns,听Robert MacCurdy, Robert A. Street,听Gregory L. Whiting. 2024. "". In:听Acta Astronautica, Volume 219.听(June 2024).
Purnendu, Jess Hartcher鈥慜鈥橞rien, Vatsal Mehta, Nicholas Colonnese, Aakar Gupta,听Carson Bruns, Priyanshu Agarwal. 2023. "". 听In:听Proceedings of IEEE World Haptics Conference.听(Delft, Netherlands, July 10鈥13, 2023).
Karan Dikshit听and听Carson J. Bruns. 2023. "". In:听Supramolecular Nanotechnology: Advanced Design of Self鈥怉ssembled Functional Materials 2. (April 21, 2023).
Samuel C. Lamont, Kyle Weishaar,听Carson J. Bruns, and Franck J. Vernerey. 2023. "". In:听Physical Review E 107, no. 4. (April 1, 2023).
Karan Vivek Dikshit, Aseem Milind Visal, Femke Janssen, Alexander Larsen, and听Carson J. Bruns. 2023. "". In:听ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15, no. 13.
Hyejin Kwon, Brian S. Newell,听Carson J. Bruns. 2022. . In: Nanoscale. (Sept 7, 2022).听
JL Butterfield, GP Penoncello,听KV Dikshit,听CJ Bruns. 2022. ". In:听ACS Applied Nano Materials.
KV Dikshit,听CJ Bruns. 2022. "".听In: Front. Chem.听
H Kwon,听CJ Bruns.听2022. .听In: Nano Research听2022,听15.
Xin Zhou,听Hyejin Kwon,听Richard R. Thompson,听Robert J. Herman,听听Frank R. Fronczek,听Carson J. Bruns听and听Semin Lee. 2021. ".听In: Chemical Communications 2021. (Oct. 25, 2021).
KV Dikshit,听CJ Bruns. 2021. "". In: Soft Matter 2021, 17.
Purnendu,听S Novack, E Acome, C Keplinger,听M Alistar,听MD Gross,听C Bruns,听D Leithinger.听2021.听,听 In听Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS 鈥21),听ACM, New York, NY, USA, 10 pages. (June 28-July 2,听2021鈥Virtual Event).
Purnendu, Eric Acome, Christoph Keplinger, Mark D. Gross, Carson Bruns, Daniel Leithinger. 2021. Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators for Origami Inspired Shape-Changing Interfaces. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI '21 Extended Abstracts). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 6 pages. (Yokohama, Japan鈥揗ay 8-13, 2021).
A Parameswar, KV Dikshit, S Movafaghi, CJ Bruns, AP Goodwin. ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 2021, 13, 1486鈥1492. (December 28, 2020).
Butterfield JL, Keyser SP, Dikshit KV, Kwon H, Koster MI, Bruns CJ. 2020. "". In: ACS Nano. (October 27, 2020).
M Atreya, K Dikshit, G Marinick, J Nielson, C Bruns, GL Whiting. "". In: ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. (April 24, 2020).
Bruns, C. J. 2019. "".听In: Symmetry.
Bruns, C. J.听2019. "". In:听TEDxMileHigh Blog.
CJ Bruns, JF Stoddart. 2016.听"The Nature of the Mechanical Bond: From Molecules to Machines. ISBN: 9781119044000.