Foldamers, oligomeric molecules which form secondary structure in solution due to noncovalent interactions amongst nonadjacent residues, show great promise for a multitude of applications including therapeutics, 1 antimicrobials, 2,3 catalysis, 4,5 molecular sensors, and nanostructured materials. In the past few decades, many research studies have elucidated and characterized new backbone and sidechain chemistries leading to secondary structure formation. In order to design foldamers exhibiting stable, tunable tertiary structures, which remains a formidable challenge but a necessary step in achieving the structural specificity required in many applications, it is important to first gain a solid understanding of the design principles for secondary structure formation.