Complex Fluids and Multiphase Flows | Name of Top Level Unit (i.e. Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Aerosols, Emulsions, Suspensions, and Foams

In the Dutcher Lab, we are interested in fundamental studies of the dynamics of complex interfaces and multiphase flows, with a particular focus on environmental remediation. Complex fluids are fluidic mixtures featuring multiple phases and mesoscopic length scales, and include atmospheric aerosols, liquid-liquid emulsions, polymeric solutions, and colloidal suspensions. These interface-rich systems are all around us in our everyday lives.

Using macro and micro-scale flow measurements and analytic mathematical modeling, we explore such areas as the thermodynamics of electrolyte-containing atmospheric aerosols, fluid dynamics and rheology of polymeric and particle-laden solutions, and microfluidics of multiphase flows.

Lab News

Feb 2025: Dr. Shihao Liu and graduate student Meenal Rathi's co-first authored paper "Curvature- and temperature-dependent transport of soluble surfactant mixtures to the air-aqueous surface with applications in fluorine-free firefighting foams" was just accepted by the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Congrats Shihao and Meenal!
Feb 2025: Graduate student Rana Bachnak passed her PhD defense, entitled "Microscale Interfaces of Complex Droplets: Factors Influencing Emulsion Stability". Many congratulations, Dr. Bachnak!
Jan 2025: Graduate student Shu Yang’s paper “Vertical Concentration Gradients of Soluble Surfactants in the Rupture of Thin Liquid Films” was just accepted by Journal of Colloid and Interface Science! Congratulations Shu!
Nov 2024: Undergraduate student researcher Megan Juni was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award for the Spring 2025.
Nov 2024: Chemical Engineering 1st year PhD student Annelise Curtin and Materials Science and Engineering 1st year PhD student Jongkyeong (Martin) Kim have joined the Dutcher lab. Annelise will be working on thin film dynamics, and Martin joins as a part of a triple advised project with Prof. Lynn Walker and Prof. Mahesh Mahanthappa to study High Internal Phase Emulsions and Foams (HIPES). Welcome Annelise and Martin!
Oct 2024: Graduate student Rana Bachnak just accepted a job offer at Intel as a LTD Module Engineer, starting in the spring 2025. Congratulations, Rana!
Oct 2024: Recent graduate student Dr. Iaroslav Makhnenko's first author paper "Evaporation, spreading and possible uptake of droplets on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) leaves using an imaging-based technology" in Pest Management Science, in collaboration with Winfield United. Congrats Dr. Makhnenko!
Oct 2024: Graduate student Rana Bachnak's first authored paper "Influence of aqueous phase salt and oil phase surfactants and viscosity on the dynamic interfacial tension and coalescence timescales", in collaboration with researchers from Donaldson Company, was just accepted in Journal of Physical Chemistry B. This publication is a part of Special issue Vicki H. Grassian Festschrift. Congrats Rana!
Sept 2024: Graduate student Chinmayee Panigrahi's first-authored paper "Removal of Pristine and UV-Weathered Microplastics from Water: Moringa Oleifera seed protein as a natural coagulant" was just accepted by Environmental Engineering Science. This was a collaborative paper with Maggie House as well as with Dr. Boya Xiong and her students. Congrats Chinmayee and Maggie!
Aug 2024: Graduate student Enas Jahan Emu joins the Dutcher lab as a Mechanical Engineering PhD student, as well as Prof. Satish Kumar's group in CEMS, working on phase separation in thin films of polymer blends. Welcome Enas!
July 2024: Graduate students Shu Yang and Meenal Rathi's co-authored paper, in collaboration with Vicki Grassian and Meng Li at UCSD, entitled "Enhanced condensation kinetics in aqueous microdroplets driven by coupled surface reactions and gas-phase partitioning" was just accepted in Chemical Science. Congratulations everyone!
June 2024: Graduate student Shu Yang won the ACS CSSS Langmuir Graduate Student Award. Congratulations Shu on this very exciting award!
June 2024: Cari's co-authored paper, in collaboration with and lead by researchers Judith Kleinheins, Claudia Marcolli, and Nadia Shardt at ETH Zürich and NTNU, entitled "A unified surface tension model for multi-component salt, organic, and surfactant solutions" was just accepted in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.
June 2024: Professor Cari Dutcher was promoted from Associate Professor (with tenure) to Professor (with tenure).
May 2024: Graduate student Margaret (Maggie) House passed his final PhD defense, with thesis entitled "Microfluidic Studies of Ice Nucleation and Efflorescence in Aqueous Droplets with Applications in Atmospheric Aerosols". Congratulations, Dr. House!
May 2024: Graduate student Iaroslav Makhnenko passed her final PhD defense, with thesis entitled "Liquid sheet breakup and on leaf droplet dynamics in agricultural sprays". Congratulations Dr. Makhnenko!
May 2024: Graduate student Maggie House's paper "Microfluidic enabled ice nucleation studies of montmorillonite clay at varying pH and ionic strengths with refreezing and relative humidity cycling" by Aerosol Science & Technology. Congrats Maggie!
May 2024: Graduate student Shu Yang's paper "Rupture of Thin Liquid Trilayer Films with Soluble Surfactants: Fundamentals and Applications to Droplet Coalescence" was accepted by Soft Matter, in collaboration with Prof. Satish Kumar. Congrats Shu!
May 2024: Graduate student Musarrat Makhnun has passed her ME qualifying exam. Congrats Musarrat!
April 2024: Graduate student Maggie House has accepted a position as Sr. Engineer - Lithography at Seagate Technology, starting July 2024. Congrats Maggie!
Feb 2024: Graduate student Nikhil Sethia passed his final PhD defense, with thesis entitled "Microfluidics to improve transplantation and cryopreservation of pancreatic islets and stem cell-derived β cell clusters". Congratulations Dr. Sethia!
Feb 2024: First year Material Science and Engineering PhD student Homayra Tabassum Mumu has joined the Dutcher Lab. Homayra will be primarily advised by Prof. Oggy Ilic, and work on particle-wave interactions at the microscale. Welcome Homayra!
Jan 2024: Graduate student Nikhil Sethia's paper "On chip sorting of stem cell-derived β cell clusters using traveling surface acoustic waves" was just accepted by Langmuir. The manuscript was submitted in response to an invitation to be a part of a special issue for “2023 Pioneers in Applied and Fundamental Interfacial Chemistry (PAFICs): Janet A. W. Elliott”. Nikhil led this collaborative effort with the Bischof group in Mechanical Engineering, Finger group in the Department of Surgery, as well as researchers in the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Eng at Mayo Clinic. Congrats, Nikhil!

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