Motion of Particles as a Probe: Dynamics and Assembly in Gel Networks/Aqueous Media

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been almost 6 years short and long at the same time. Writing Acknowledgement seems like a confession. (alphabetical order!) who all have encouraged and supported me throughout this Ph.D. course. I sometimes think how difficult and challenging it would be to guide a student who belongs to three different groups. I really appreciate that all of you have tried to educate me to make me feel confident about what I have done in PSE department for the last 5 years. Of course, there have been moments when I almost gave up on this course, but talking with any of you always encouraged me to keep going forward even though you may not have noticed it. Al, I really appreciate that you eagerly tried to find me a research project that can fit into my thesis even though the subject is not quite with the group. Todd, I should thank you for saving me when I was looking for groups in my first year, and all the heartful encouragements you gave me from nowhere when it was really in need. Ryan, I have to say thank you for your biggest patience on me so that I could finish this project even after 5 years. Besides all of these aspects, I really enjoyed jokes Todd makes in group meetings that always crack me up even though it is sometimes very hard to catch what he means by them, Al's all-the-time gentleness as well as his nice sense of fashion, and Ryan's improvised physics equations and plots scribbled on a piece of paper, and your incredible intuition on science. I respect all of you as both mentors and scientists. My fourth committee member, Professor Maria Kilfoil, I feel very lucky that you are one of my committee members because you have given me so much valuable advices and discussions as vi an expert in that research area. Thank you for your consistent willingness to help me with my research. I also like to thank Professor Jong-Man Kim, my advisor in Master's degree. I learned so much knowledge and skills on synthetic chemistry, and you fully encouraged and supported me so that I could go abroad for more study. Approaching time to leave Amherst, I look back thinking that there could have been more things to remember with PSE friends. I would like to thank all of you from Crosby group, …