Materials are not just passive substances, they are a point of convergence where environmental, economic, and social forces come together. Each material embodies a complex web of activities: its origin and production affect ecosystems, its use drives economic transactions, and its cultural significance shapes human behavior and societal values. Materials have become interfaces for ecological and informational exchange, augmenting how we sense, understand, and engage with the world around us. In parallel, generative AI and robotics are transforming manufacturing, raising questions about how embodied intelligence and emerging materials might co-evolve to redefine sustainability, design, and the very nature of production. As part of the 2025 Alternative Frontiers Summer Residency, Advanced Material Interfaces investigates the frontier of these emerging material realities.

Residencies include work space, housing (for those traveling from outside the bay area), and shop access. Residents participate in weekly lunches and dinners with the cohort and invited guests. Applicants may request funds to support travel and other expenses.

Areas of Interest include:

Programmable Materials
From self-healing concrete to stimuli-responsive polymers, materials are taking on life-like properties – enabling them to behave increasingly similar to living organisms. Moving a step further – what if the materials around us could listen, respond, and evolve? How can the objects around us be augmented to reshape our relationships with the systems we are embedded in?

Beyond the Image of Plastics
In the wake of the plastics pollution crisis, demand has grown for materials described as “regenerative,” “sustainable,” and “biobased.” Yet to support the lifestyle modern humans have grown accustomed to—shaped over decades by a global culture embedded in a plastic world—emerging biobased materials are now expected to be as indestructible as their predecessors in order to gain near-term adoption. What properties should next-generation materials possess? Should we look to the past and return to natural materials, or turn toward new, yet unpredictable, material technologies? Should we demand change through our materials, or through shifts in culture, behavior, and lifestyle?

Generative Manufacturing
As generative AI technologies reshape how we imagine, design, and build the virtual world, how will augmenting robotic and electromechanical systems with new intelligence enable new advanced manufacturing and digital fabrication capabilities? What new forms, functions, and design workflows emerge as Gen AI systems become embodied, mobile, and prosthetic?

Nano/Molecular Design Interactions
Nanoscale and molecular-scale engineering are revolutionizing materials science by enabling control over matter at the level of atoms and molecules. This precision enables design materials with tailored properties such as strength, flexibility, conductivity, or responsiveness that were previously not possible. Such control opens the door to a new generation of smart, responsive, and multifunctional materials that can adapt to their environments, self-heal, or interface seamlessly with living systems.  What new products and designs are possible as a result of these advances? How might they shape our culture if they become ubiquitous?

Dates: July 3rd – September 15th (alternative dates may be possible)