Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar
Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar Series
Title: From unsteady fragmentation to phase change: fluid- and bio-physics of/during dispersal
Abstract: Fragmentation is ubiquitous for myriads of physical, chemical, and biological processes where beneficial compounds, contaminants, or microorganisms are carried in the liquid phase. This is true for products of a range of irrigation and spray systems, and also for wave breaking, bursting bubbles, impacting raindrops, or exhalations – all of which having the potential to be efficient sources of desired compound, or contaminant, microorganism-laden microdroplets. Our mechanistic understanding of how such compounds and microdroplets can sustainably disperse in the environment or in controlled processes remains woefully limited. We will highlight how studying such questions can lead to fundamentally new insights, and emergence of a broad class of relevant open fluid- and bio-physics problems, including those in which the unsteadiness of fragmentation, mixing, rheology, and phase change are at the core. And how in turn these fundamental processes begin to shed light on the entangled and interactions of physics, chemistry, and biology in shaping a range of industrial, health, and environmental processes.
Bio: Prof. Lydia Bourouiba received her PhD from McGill University in 2008, working on turbulence and geophysical applications. Bourouiba is promoted to the rank of full Professor, effective July 1, 2025. A physical applied mathematician by training, her research interests span a broad range of fundamental to applied curiosity-driven questions in fluid physics, biophysics and mathematical modeling. They typically involve fluid physics across scales from turbulence, interfacial, and complex biofluids, to soft matter and porous media, and how these phenomena interact with chemical and biological mechanisms to shape emergence, transport, and adaptation of microorganisms in human, animal, and plant populations, or life itself. A key signature of her scientific approach is the iterative co-development of experimental methods and theory/numerics. Her recent work focused on the multi-scale dynamics of unsteady fluid fragmentation, drops and bubbles, and phase transitions relevant to addressing important industrial, energy, food, environmental, contamination, and health challenges. Prof. Bourouiba mentoring and scholarship have been recognized by a range of scientific communities including through the Ole Madsen Mentoring Award, the Tse Cheuk Ng Tai's Prize for Innovative Research in Health Sciences, the Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award for high-risk/high-reward basic science research, and the G.K. Batchelor Lectureship at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), University of Cambridge. She is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (2021) and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in (2022). More here: https://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/lbouro@mit.edu
NOTE: At this time, in-person Mechanical and Civil Engineering Lectures are open to all Caltech students/staff/faculty/visitors.