Professor John Bush directs the Fluids Lab.

Instructors

Dr. Pedro Reis is involved in several projects, many involving the dynamics of thin sheets.

Dr. Sunny Jung is involved in several projects, including the dynamics of spider capture thread.

Dr. Morris Flynn is involved in several projects, including the mechanics of underwater plastron breathing in insects and bacteria.

Dr. Matthew Hancock is involved in theoretical investigations of the wetting of elastic textured materials.

Dr. Aslan Kasimov is involved in our continuing investigations of instabilities of the circular hydraulic jump.

Graduate Students

Jeff Aristoff (Mathematics) has been involved in our experimental investigation of viscous hydraulic jumps. He has also explored various surface tension dominated flows, including the tears of wine and the impact of small bodies on the free surface. Most recently, he has been studying the dynamics of the elastic pendulum.

Peter Buchak (Mathematics) has been involved in the theoretical investigation of flow past flexible bodies, as pertains to wind flowing past a flapping book, and waves on wheat fields.

Manu Prakash (CBA, Media Lab) When not building bubble computers, Manu is involved in our investigations of capillary feeding in birds, the design of water-walking robots, and capillary-driven motion in confined geometries.

Pierre Renvoise (visiting from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) is conducting an investigation of fluid slug motion in tapered tubes.

Pascal Raux (visiting from ENS, Cachan, Paris) is conducting an investigation of the dynamics of rolling elastic ribbons.

Christiane Heinicke (visiting from University of Ilmenau, Germany) is conducting an investigation of wind-driven waves on wheat fields.

Brian Chan (Mechanical Engineering) , Mastercraftsman and Swordsmith, The Jedi Knight of Origami, is involved in the design and construction of robotic creatures, including the Robostrider and Robosnail. He is currently working under the supervision of Prof. Peko Hosoi in Mechanical Engineering.

Undergraduates

Jillian James (UROP) is involved in an experimental investigation of elastic buckling at an interface, with applications to floating flowers and capillary catapults.

Sunshine Zhou (UROP) is involved in an experimental investigation of the dynamics of a `dripping chain'.

Rita Ciaravino (UROP) is involved in an experimental investigation of the stability of a book flapping in the wind.

Alumni

Dr. Roman Stocker (Former Instructor, Mathematics) was involved in investigations of the `beating heart', spontaneous oscillations of surfactant-laden fluid lenses. He is currently on the faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT.

Dr. Anette Hosoi (Former Instructor, Mathematics) was involved in an investigation of evaporatively-driven convective instabilities in climbing films, specifically, the fluid dynamics of wine. She is presently on the faculty in Mechanical Engineering, MIT.

Dr. Tom Peacock (Former Instructor, Mathematics) was involved in investigations of the Boycott effect in stratified fluids, and wave propagation in stratified fluids. He is presently on the faculty in Mechanical Engineering, MIT.

Dr. Arezki Boudaoud (Former Instructor, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental and theoretical investigation of instabilities in twisted fluid threads. He is presently on the faculty in the Department of Physics, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris.

Dr. Jeff Parsons (Former Postdoctoral Research Fellow, EAPS) was involved in experimental and theoretical modeling of particles sedimenting through stable double-diffusive interfaces. He is presently on the faculty at the Department of Oceanography, University of Washington.

Dr. Linda Elkins (Former Graduate student, EAPS) was involved in the modeling the dynamics of tektites: cooling metalic drops ejected by meteor impacts. She is presently on the faculty at the Department of Geology, Brown University.

Dr. Francois Blanchette (Former Graduate student, Mathematics) was involved in the theoretical and experimental modeling of sedimentation in stratified fluids. He completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics in June 2003, postdoced at UCSB before joining the faculty at UC Merced.

Dr. David Hu (Former Graduate Student, Mathematics) was involved in experimental and theoretical investigations of the propulsion mechanisms of semi-aquatic insects, including the water strider. He is currently a postdoc at the Courant Institute at NYU, and will soon join the faculty at Georgia Tech.

Dr. David Vener (Mathematics) was involved in the theoretical modeling of solid bodies rolling in viscous fluids. He is now working on Wall Street with hopes of funding the laboratory.

Dr. Nikos Savva (Mathematics) was involved in the theoretical modeling of the dynamics of viscous fluid sheets. He is currently postdocing at Imperial College, London.

Mike Sekora (UROP, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental investigation of rolling bodies in viscous fluids. Currently enrolled in the PhD program at Princeton.

Maurice Blount (UROP, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental investigation of instabilities of non-Newtonian gravity currents. He was visiting MIT from Cambridge University courtesy of the CMI Program.

Russell Zahniser (UROP, Physics) was involved in an experimental investigation of the stability of rotating fluid jets which formed the basis for his senior thesis in Physics.

Jeff Leblanc (UROP, Mathematics) is involved in an experimental investigation of polygonal hydraulic jumps.

Tim Kreider (UROP, Mathematics) has been involved in an experimental investigation of rolling drops, and theoretical investigations of meniscus-climbing in semi-aquatic insects.

Alice Chau (UROP, Mathematics) is involved in an experimental investigation of water strider locomotion.

Bev Thurber (UROP, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental investigation of particle clouds in homogeneous and stratified environments. She is presently pursuing doctoral studies at Cornell University.

Alex Hasha (UROP, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental investigation of fluid pipes, and an experimental and theoretical investigation of colliding jets. He is currently pursuing graduate work at the Courant Institute, NYU.

Robbie Buckingham (UROP, Physics and Mathematics) pursued research towards his senior thesis involving the dynamics of viscous water bells. He is presently pursuing doctoral studies in the Department of Mathematics at Duke University.

Jan Skotheim (UROP, Physics and Mathematics) developed a number of laboratory demonstrations for Professor Dan Rothman's undergraduate course entitled Chaos and Complexity, and pursued research towards his senior thesis involving the drainage of soap films. He subsequently pursued doctoral studies at DAMTP, University of Cambridge, then a postdoc at the Rockefeller Institute. He is soon to join the faculty at Stanford University.

Judy Su (UROP, Mechanical Engineering) was involved in an experimental investigation of particle settling through a stable density interface. She is presently pursuing doctoral research in Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

Nasser Demir (UROP, Mathematics) was involved in an experimental investigation of sedimentation from gravity currents. He will begin his doctoral studies at Duke in September 2004.

Jessica Kleiss (UROP, Mathematics and EAPS) was involved in an experimental investigation of particle settling through an interface at low Reynolds number. She is currently pursuing graduate studeis at UCSD.

Jon Lubetsky (UROP, Environmental Engineering) conducted a series of experiments aimed at elucidating the interaction between sedimenting particles and stable double-diffusive interfaces.

Visitors

Dr. Christophe Clanet (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) was visiting the Department for the spring term 2008. We are currently collaborating on various topics involving the dynamics of elastic bodies.

Tristan Gilet (University of Liege) was a visiting graduate student in the fall of 2008, and examined the dynamics of droplets bouncing on a soap film.

Prof. Darren Crowdy (Imperial College, UK) was visiting the Department from 2005-2007, finding exact solutions everywhere he went.

Prof. David Quere (ESPCI, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) was visiting the Department for the spring term 2006. We are currently collaborating on various topics, including capillary-driven motion in confined geometries.

Prof. Neil Balmforth (University of British Columbia) was visiting the Department for the 2003-2004 academic year, and working on a wide variety of problems including non-Newtonian gravity currents, and the snail ball.

Dr. Jan-Bert Flor (LEGI, Grenoble) and Professor Marius Ungarish (Technion, Israel) visited the laboratory for extended periods during 1999-2000 in order to pursue a study of stratified spin-up, a collaborative international research initiative supported by NATO.

Prof. Arshod Kudrolli (Clark University) has been visiting the Department since 1999, and works on a variety of problems involving sedimentation and granular media.