Lauren E. Altman, PhD

Lauren E. Altman is a Center for Soft and Living Matter Postdoctoral Fellow working in the field of experimental soft matter physics at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her PhD from New York University in 2022, developing analytical techniques for holographic microscopy and using them to study the morphology and dynamics of colloids in dispersions. In her postdoctoral work, she is building tunable nonlinear networks in the lab that exhibit emergent behaviors arising from their structure and properties. By applying local learning rules to physical systems, she is uncovering the statistical principles that govern learning and adaptable materials. She is also continuing to apply holography techniques to the study of bacterial swimming behaviors. Lauren was born and raised in New York and enjoys baking, photography, and dance in her spare time.