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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
- July 2021: A paper by recent graduate Dr. Priyatanu Roy, and graduate student Maggie House on Ice nucleating activity and residual particle morphology of bulk seawater and sea surface microlayer was just accepted by ACS Earth and Space Chemistry. This is an exciting NSF CAICE collaboration with DeMott (CSU) and Grassian (UCSD) groups. Congrats all!
- July 2021: A paper by graduate student Vishal Panwar and recent Dutcher lab graduate, Dr. Athena Metaxas, entitled "Polyelectrolyte solutions in Taylor-Couette flows" was just accepted to the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. Congrats Vishal and Athena!
- June 2021: Graduate student Priyatanu Roy has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Microfluidic studies of temperature dependent phase transitions in aerosol droplets". Wonderful job and many congratulations Dr. Roy!
- June 2021: The Dutcher Lab is excited to welcome two undergraduate researchers this summer: Daniel Pan from UC Santa Barbara, through the NSF CAICE SURP program, and Cassandra Vargas from UC Riverside, through NSF MRSEC REU program. Welcome Daniel and Cassandra!
- June 2021: Graduate students Iaroslav Makhnenko, Rana Bachnak, and Vishal Panwar all passed their Preliminary Exam in Mechanical Engineering. Congratulations Iaroslav, Rana, and Vishal!
- May 2021: Congratulations to undergraduate student researcher Devon Kelly on his acceptance of an offer to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan this Fall!
- April 2021: Graduate student Maggie House passed her Preliminary Exam in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Congratulations Maggie!
- April 2021: Rana Bachnak won the Student Poster Competition at the American Filtration and Separations (AFS) Filtration Conference (FiltCon 2021). The work, entitled "Interfacial tensions and film drainage times with surfactant stabilized water in oil emulsions: Towards improved liquid-liquid separation", is a part of an exciting collaboration with Donaldson Company. Congrats to Rana!
- April 2021: Iaroslav Makhnenko's paper "Review of Liquid Sheet Breakup: Perspectives from Agricultural Sprays" was just accepted to the Journal of Aerosol Science! The paper is a collaborative effort with researchers from Winfield United. Great job, all!
- April 2021: A collaborative paper "Accurate Prediction of Organic Aerosol Evaporation Using Kinetic Multilayer Modelling and the Stokes-Einstein Equation" co-authored by Shihao Liu and Dr Lucy Nandy, has just been accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Congrats Shihao and Lucy!
- April 2021: Dr. Ben Micklavzina's co-authored paper "Flow behavior of concentrated tricalcium phosphate suspensions in oil through injection for softgel encapsulation" was just accepted in International Journal of Pharmaceutics. The paper is a collaborative IPRIME work with Prof. Kumar's group and Pharmavite Company. Congrats all!
- April 2021: Dr. Shweta Narayan's paper "Dilatational rheology of water-in-diesel fuel interfaces: Effect of surfactant concentration and bulk-to-interface exchange" was just accepted in Soft Matter. The paper is a collaborative work with Prof. Zasadzinski's group and Donaldson Company. Congrats all!
- March 2021: Priyatanu Roy has just accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Departments of Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in the Linda Griffith and Dave Trumper groups at MIT. The position will start after Priyatanu's graduation this July. Congratulations, Priyatanu!
- March 2021: Priyatanu Roy and Maggie House's paper "A Microfluidic Device for Automated High Throughput Detection of Ice Nucleation of Snomax" was just accepted in Micromachines! Nice work!
- January 2021: Chinmayee Panigrahi has joined the Dutcher Lab as a first year mechanical engineering PhD student. Welcome Chinmayee!
- January 2021: Shihao Liu's paper "Concentration Depth Profile-based Multilayer Sorption Surface Tension Model for Aqueous Solutions" was just accepted in Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Congrats Shihao!
See Archived News for more!