Ph.D., University of Waterloo

Thermal/Fluid Sciences: environmental and multiphase transport phenomena

The research interests of our group focus on multiphase, complex-fluid, turbulent/chaotic and environmental systems. Studies range from nanoscale problems, e.g. spinodal decomposition in shear flows, coalescence, and flow interactions with macromolecular structures like cell-membrane receptors and channels, to macroscale problems like turbulent transport processes at the air-sea interface, of importance in global warming. Some applications are to a environmental processes (PDF paper), development of complex/multiphase fluid formulations (PDF paper), and mesoscale transport phenomena in biological systems. An example of work in the last area is transport and transduction processes in neo-vascularization.

Experimental techniques involve Laser-Doppler Anemometry, Particle Imaging Velocimetry, as well as flow and molecule-specific imaging based on Atomic Force Microscopy. Simulation/theoretical approaches are based on spectral methods using level-set and self-consistent field theory (SCFT) models. We, together with Profs. Frederickson and Ceniceros, have founded the Complex Fluids Design Center (CFDC) [insert website] at UCSB. The work is supported by DOE Basic Energy Sciences, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratories and several industrial organizations.