Thomas M Truskett
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tmtruskett.bsky.social
Thomas M Truskett
@tmtruskett.bsky.social
soft matter; higher education; technology impacts; Texas trails; views expressed are mine and not those of any group, org, or institution
Disorder is inevitable in colloidal assembly. Sharing our latest in ACS Photonics, led by Tanay Paul and Allison Green in collaboration with @deliamilliron.bsky.social, exploring the role of structural disorder in extreme light-matter coupling of plasmonic nanocrystals pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Plasmon Polaritons in Disordered Nanoparticle Assemblies
Multilayer assemblies of metal nanoparticles can act as photonic structures, where collective plasmon resonances hybridize with cavity modes to create plasmon-polariton states. For sufficiently strong coupling, plasmon polaritons qualitatively alter the optical properties of light-matter systems, with applications ranging from sensing to solar energy. However, results from experimental studies have raised questions about the role of nanoparticle structural disorder in plasmon-polariton formation and the strength of light-matter coupling in plasmonic assemblies. Understanding how disorder affects optical properties has practical implications since methods for assembling low-defect nanoparticle superlattices are slow and scale poorly. Modeling realistic disorder requires large system sizes, which is challenging using conventional electromagnetic simulations. We employ Brownian dynamics simulations to construct large-scale nanoparticle multilayers with controlled structural order. We investigate their far- and near-field optical response using a superposition T-matrix method with two-dimensional periodic boundary conditions. We find that while structural disorder broadens the polaritonic stop band and the near-field hot-spot distribution, the polariton dispersion and coupling strength remain unaltered. To understand the effects of nanoparticle composition, we consider assemblies with Drude model particles mimicking gold or tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals. Assemblies of ITO nanocrystals, which have lower carrier concentrations, exhibit ultrastrong coupling, in contrast to Au nanoparticle multilayers that display deep strong coupling. Finally, we demonstrate that while computationally efficient mutual polarization method calculations employing the quasistatic approximation modestly overestimate the strength of collective plasmon coupling in these assemblies, they reproduce the polariton dispersion relations determined by electrodynamic simulations.
pubs.acs.org
September 30, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Since 2022, my colleagues and I have been targeted by political attacks. Early on, we worried that political actors would specifically target our projects & universities for defunding. But in the end, they came after everyone. The strategy of keeping heads down was never the right one.
Great article with lots of perspectives from scientists who are scared to speak out — and other scientists who are scared of what will happen if they don't. Trump & Musk & Kennedy are devastating U.S. research and setting progress back decades
www.science.org/content/arti... on @science.org
Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate
Many worry about retribution. But for others, speaking out is worth the risk
www.science.org
May 13, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."

Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.

I wrote about my decision in TIME.

time.com/7285045/resi...
Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress
I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.
time.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Science article with perspectives from NIH insiders

www.science.org/content/arti...

1/n
NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything’
After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding
www.science.org
April 30, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes:
*7.6% cut in GDP
*8.6% cut in federal revenues
*equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer
"If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research."

The devastating cuts to science funding aren't just academic, they threaten our livelihoods and wellbeing. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...
Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows (Gift Article)
Reducing federal support for research and development could cause long-run economic damage and reduce government revenue.
www.nytimes.com
April 30, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Important info here on the details of how they plan to dismantle NIH and NSF. They are counting on scientists to keep their heads down and stay “neutral,” when the only hope is to organize and stand up for science and equal opportunity to do science donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
I and my colleagues, @carpenterlab.bsky.social and Carol Greider, wrote an op-ed for our local media site, @lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social, about the recent cancellations of NIH funded training programs meant to broaden participation in science at UCSC:

lookout.co/trumps-escal...
Trump’s escalating attacks on research and education are hurting UC Santa Cruz – the public needs to act now
The Trump administration’s attack on scientific research will deeply affect UC Santa Cruz, write three eminent UCSC professors, including one who won a Nobel Prize for her work. Since Donald Trump too...
lookout.co
April 27, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
much has been said about the NYT's framing of the growth of the government-university research complex as a story of higher ed "dependency" on government

it's a silly and ahistorical way to characterize a carefully thought out national strategy, one imagined by

1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...
How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government
For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.
www.nytimes.com
April 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
It me
April 18, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
"Faculty at Michigan State University have become the latest in the Big Ten to urge conference leaders to create a "mutual defense compact" statenews.com/article/2025...
MSU faculty join call for Big Ten 'mutual defense compact' against Trump administration - The State News
Under the compact, participating institutions would “commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund” that would “provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution un...
statenews.com
April 18, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Ok so yeah, this has quickly become the #1 misunderstanding about the canceled grants

the grants are not “subsidies” or “entitlements” to Harvard or Princeton or whatever

they aren’t going into universities’ endowments

they are competitive contracts won by these universities to do research
There is a PR narrative quickly emerging about “entitlement” of elite universities, as if this $ is some sort of subsidy

Harvard & others must counter this quickly

The $ doesn’t flow into Harvard’s coffers - this is grant money, most of which goes to research the govt has agreed has social value
April 18, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
“I’m going to keep trying to maintain the life that I have here,” a Nigerian student says. “But what life am I fighting for if people don’t want me here?”

International students in U.S. are reeling from terminated records and revoked visas. My latest for @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...
International students in the U.S. are reeling amid revoked visas and terminated records
The moves also affect a temporary work program heavily used by STEM graduates
www.science.org
April 16, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
University of California, what’s up girl? I know you’re public, but you’re big & beautiful. Also, the #1 employer in the state.
April 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
The Chronicle covers the growing MADC* movement!

Faculty senates at Indiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Nebraska state flagships have ALL passed resolutions for Mutual Academic Defense Compacts!!

Will your institution be next? Make it so!

*because we're mad, see? <groan lol>
April 14, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Harvard will not comply.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
— Harvard President Alan M. Garber

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Will Fight Trump’s Demands | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle its diversity programming and limit student protests in exchange for its federal funding, University President Alan M. Garb...
www.thecrimson.com
April 14, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
New, from me: Marco Rubio used to boast that he was banned from China, calling it a totalitarian state.

Now he combines a) new surveillance capabilities to monitor and punish international students, with b) little accountability or due process. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-attack...
The Attack on International Students
New surveillance and punishment systems are a warning to us all
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 13, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Photonic integration of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystal assemblies for ultrastrong coupling and infrared spectral tuning. Collaboration with @utmid-ir.bsky.social and @tmtruskett.bsky.social now out in @pubs.acs.org ACS Nano.
@texasche.bsky.social

#ChemSky 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
April 12, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
How do polymer co-solutes induce attractive interactions between colloidal nanocrystals? Quantitative theory-experiment analysis with @tmtruskett.bsky.social group using small angle X-ray scattering. @texasche.bsky.social @chemistry.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#ChemSky 🧪
April 11, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
As NIH and university funding in the US is dismantled and as this admin revokes international student visas for no reason…we need to make a stand. Thanks @ardemp.bskyverified.social for being vocal about what’s at stake! www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...
www.cnn.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
from "learn to code!" to "learn to put screws in iPhones!" in a few short years. really makes you think about Employable Skills
April 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Good for John Hartwig. He is of course correct, and it’s important to say these things loudly and clearly, both abroad and in the US.
April 7, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
I do love The Daily Texan. You go, student journalists!

"This Editorial Board opposes all attempts to ban drag and believes the Board of Regents should reverse its ruling to uphold our constitutional right to free speech at our University."
thedailytexan.com/2025/04/04/d...
April 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
“Harvard now faces one of the most consequential choices in its history: Submit to extortion and make itself complicit in the most profound assault on academic freedom and constitutional governance of our time—or go to court. The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.” (Fixed link)
Harvard’s moment of truth - The Boston Globe
The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.
www.bostonglobe.com
April 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Thomas M Truskett
Looking at a 54% increase in the cost of scientific instruments due to the tariff tax.
Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies
Import taxes on staples such as microscopes, glassware and computer chips will affect institutions already feeling financial strain.
www.nature.com
April 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM