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About South Lake Tahoe

With their serene setting at Fallen Leaf Lake in South Lake Tahoe, Stanford Sierra Conference Center offers academic, social, and corporate groups a relaxing natural environment, comfortable meeting rooms, delicious meals, a helpful staff, and fun outdoor activities.

Topic Areas

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    Chair: Kristen Fichthorn (Penn State University)

    Contributions are solicited in areas of: theoretical, experimental, and computational studies on nucleation, crystal growth, phase transformation; thermodynamics (crystal structure, shape, size) and kinetics (atomic-scale diffusion, reaction pathways) of bulk and low dimensional crystal growth; fundamentals of self- and directed-assembly; morphology, stress and interfacial microstructural evolution during crystal growth; inorganic and organic bulk crystallization from liquid-phase solutions and melts; crystal growth on surfaces, 2D interfaces or in confined spaces; near-/far from-equilibrium particulate assembly and fusion processes, computational modeling techniques for crystal growth across scales; process modeling for scalable manufacturing of crystals.

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    Chair: Jong Seto, Arizona State University

    Contributions are solicited in areas of: crystallization of biological/biomimetic materials; mechanisms and dynamics of self-assembly, including supramolecular and/or hierarchical assembly of organic and biogenic materials (e.g., polysaccharides, proteins, peptides/peptoids, DNA and RNA, and synthesized polymers); nucleation, growth, morphology (e.g., chirality) and phase transformations of inorganic components in these systems; interplay between self-assembly and function; interactions at the inorganic-organic interface; experimental, theoretical and computational approaches aimed at bridging fundamental principles and applications; challenges in biomimetic/bioinspired syntheses and scalable manufacturing.

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    Chair: Talid Sinno, Penn State University 

    Contributions are solicited in areas of: fundamental studies of nucleation and growth of nano- and microscale colloidal crystallization, including e.g., DNA-mediated assembly, charged particle assembly, depletion-based systems, magnetic particle assembly, and others; equilibrium thermodynamics and phase behavior of colloidal systems; kinetics of colloidal crystallization; pathways and analysis of novel colloidal crystal structures; new approaches for driving colloidal crystallization; advanced simulation methods for predicting colloidal crystallization phase diagrams and/or nucleation barriers, e.g., enhanced sampling techniques for rare events and use of high-performance computing; colloidal metamaterials and scalable manufacturing.

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    Chair: Ganesh Balakrishnan (University of New Mexico)

    Contributions are solicited in areas of: fundamental growth mechanisms in epitaxial materials (e.g., III-V semiconductors, perovskites,

    oxides, high-entropy alloys) including 2D nucleation, surface diffusion, step propagation, island coalescence, spinodal decomposition, and defect formation and evolution; strained systems and metamorphic growth; molecular beam epitaxy, MOCVD, patterned growth and selective-area epitaxy; quantum structures and device growth and characterization; modeling and simulation for epitaxial growth processes; novel characterization techniques.

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    Chairs: Katie Colbaugh (CEO/Founder, Leucite)
    and Moneesh Upmanyu (Northeastern)

    Contributions are solicited in areas of: fundamental studies of nucleation and growth of nano- and microscale colloidal crystallization, including e.g., DNA-mediated assembly, charged particle assembly, depletion-based systems, magnetic particle assembly, and others; equilibrium thermodynamics and phase behavior of colloidal systems; kinetics of colloidal crystallization; pathways and analysis of novel colloidal crystal structures; new approaches for driving colloidal crystallization; advanced simulation methods for predicting colloidal crystallization phase diagrams and/or nucleation barriers, e.g., enhanced sampling techniques for rare events and use of high-performance computing; colloidal metamaterials and scalable manufacturing.

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29th AACG Western Section Conference on Crystal Growth & Epitaxy

Fallen Leaf Lake, California, USA
June 7-11, 2026

The 2026 AACG West Section conference will focus on current and emerging challenges in understanding, engineering, and design of crystal growth in nature and technology. This year, we especially welcome contributions in five key areas including fundamentals of crystal growth, crystallization of biological and biomimetic materials, crystallization in colloidal systems, epitaxial crystal growth, and artificial intelligence/machine learning in crystal growth. All five focus areas will emphasize the interplay between synthesis, characterization, theory and modeling, and application in a wide range of crystalline material systems. As always, the registration fee includes all sessions, lodging, recreation, and meals. Registration and submission will open January 2026.

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