The goal of the research supported by this Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) award is to design gel materials with controlled mechanical and optical properties. Colloidal gels are bonded, three-dimensional networks of tiny particles (colloids) whose spatial organization and connectivity result in distinctive combinations of properties useful for wide-ranging applications. The project will result in new ways to use computers to simulate and design materials based on their component colloids and their interactions. The investigators will develop soft, processable gels that interact with light in ways typically associated with hard solids and materials that could emulate the mechanical function of natural protein networks to stabilize synthetic cells. Simulation software developed by the team will be shared as open-source code. The award will support the transition of community college students to four-year STEM degree programs through mentorship and summer research experiences.