Welcome!
Research overview
Our group is interested in the experimental and theoretical modeling of physical and biological systems. Currently we explore problems in membrane biophysics (biomembrane electromechanics and stability, thermal shape fluctuations), complex systems and soft matter (emergent phenomena and self-organization in active matter, directed assembly, nonlinear particle dynamics) and fluid dynamics (electrohydrodynamics, interfacial instabilities, fluid-structure interaction in Stokes flow, microhydrodynamics, rheology of emulsions). Our research integrates theory and experiment – the Lab is an amazing source of discoveries and inspiration for new theories!
Our Group
Petia M. Vlahovska
Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics and (by courtesy) Mechanical Engineering
Zhanwen Wang
PhD student, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Research: Particle electrostatics and dynamics in confinement
Sho Kawakami
PhD student, Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Research: Motility of droplets enclosing active particles
Rui Luo
Post-doctoral research associate, PhD 2022 Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Research: Active fluids of Quincke-powered motile colloids
Diptendu Sen
PhD student, Mechanical Engineering
Research: Droplet electrohydrodynamics
Shuozhen Zhao
PhD student, Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Research: interfacial electrokinetics
Zongxin Yu
Post-doctoral research associate, PhD 2023 Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
Research: electrokinetic instabilities
Simon Fabiunke
Post-doctoral researcher, PhD 2021 Physics, TU Dortmund (Germany)
Research: Biomembranes
Collaborators
Rumiana Dimova
Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Membrane Biophysics Lab
Chiara Sorgentone
Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering
La Sapienza, University of Rome
Rony Granek
Ben-Gurion University of The Negev, Israel
Monica Olvera de la Cruz
Material Science, Northwestern University
Michael Miksis
ESAM, Northwestern University