People on the µVAC team

Professor Kenneth T. Christensen received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1995 from the University of New Mexico, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1996 from Caltech and a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) in 2001 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral work involved the development of a particle-image accelerometry system for measurement of instantaneous acceleration fields in turbulent flows and also the study of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence. Following a postdoctoral appointment in the TAM Department at UIUC, he joined the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico as an assistant professor where he continued his work in the area of wall-bounded turbulence from 2002-2004. He is currently an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he pursues fundamental experimental studies of turbulence, microscale flows, cardiovascular fluid dynamics and multiphase flows. (MIE)

Professor Jonathan Freund received his PhD from Stanford University (1998) and then joined the faculty in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCLA. He joined the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics department at UIUC in (2001) and is also a part-time faculty affiliate of the Beckman Institute. Research in Jonathan Freund's group is on the analysis of mechanical systems, usually employing large-scale computational methods, either continuum and atomistic. Current efforts include:

• Simulation and analysis of jet noise mechanisms. Most recently, we have been using adjoint-based optimization methods in conjunction with large-scale direct numerical simulations to circumvent the complexity of a turbulent jet and study jet noise reduction directly. (AFOSR)
• Atomistic simulation of evaporating menisci. Here, we are studying the microscopic details of evaporating menisci, as occur in nucleate boiling or vapor bubble growth in MEMS, in an attempt to develop models that may be incorporated into global models of bubble dynamics. (NSF)
• Ion driven surface texturing of silicon and other semiconductors. We are using atomistic simulation to close continuum models. (NSF, PI: Harley Johnson)
• Development of boundary conditions and relaxation models for Boltzmann Transport Equation models of ballistic-diffusive thermal transport in semiconductor nanosturctures. (NSF)
• Simulation of large numbers of blood cells flowing in the microcirculation. The current application is leukocyte transport and margination, which is a central component of the inflammation response. (UIUC)
• Analysis and optimization of microvascular autonomic composites. (AFOSR MURI, PI: Scott White)

Originally from Belgium, Professor Philippe Geubelle got his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics at Caltech in 1989 and 1993, respectively. After a year as Postdoctoral Research Associate at Harvard, he joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in January 1995, where he is currently an associate professor in Aerospace Engineering, with joint appointments in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and at the Beckman Institute. Since 1997, he has been serving on the Science Steering Committee of the DOE-sponsored ASCI Center for the Simulation of Advanced Rockets. He is also serving as Director of The NASA Illinois Space Grant Consortium. His research interests pertain to the theoretical and numerical treatment of complex problems in solid mechanics, and, in particular, of quasi-static and dynamic fracture mechanics, functionally graded materials, multiscale modeling, composite manufacturing processes, failure events in solid propellant rockets and the self-healing composite concept. Other research activities involve computational aeroelasticity and parallel programming.

• Personal website: http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=196
• Group's web site: http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/~geubelle/PHG_GROUP/

Jennifer Lewis (MatSE)

Jeffrey Moore was born outside of Joliet, IL in 1962. After receiving his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois (1984), he completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, also at the University of Illinois, with Samuel Stupp (1989). He then went to Caltech as a NSF postdoctoral fellow to study with Robert Grubbs. In 1990 he joined the chemistry faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and then in 1993 returned to the University of Illinois where he is currently the William H. and Janet Lycan Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering. In 1995 he became a part-time Beckman Institute faculty member and served as a co-chairman of the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures Main Research Theme. In July of 1999, he became an Associate Editor for the Journal of American Chemical Society. His awards include an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. The Moore Group’s research involves the synthesis and study of large organic molecules and the discovery of new polymeric materials. Most projects relate to one of three areas: the design of chain segments that fold into well-defined solution conformations, the preparation and study of self-healing polymer composites, and the development of organic materials for use in nano- and mesoscale devices. In general, the group uses the tools of synthetic and physical organic chemistry to address problems at the interface of chemistry and materials science.

Nancy Sottos is a Donald B. Willett Professor of Engineering in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, a faculty affiliate and co-chair of the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures Research Thrust at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and a designated University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research group studies the mechanics of complex, heterogeneous materials such as advanced composites, thin film devices, and microelectronic packaging, specializing in meso-scale characterization of deformation and failure in these material systems. Current research focuses on the development of autonomic materials systems that have the ability to achieve adaptation and response in an independent and autonomic fashion (e.g.,recent work on autonomic healing in polymers). Research and teaching awards include the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (1992), Outstanding Engineering Advisor Award (1992, 1998, 1999 and 2002), the Robert E. Miller award for Excellence in Teaching (1999), the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement (2002), and the Hetényi Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics (2004). Her research group was awarded the American Society for Composites Best Paper Award in 2002 and 2003 and the Tech Museum of Innovation Award for Technology Benefiting Humanity in 2001 for work on self-healing polymers. She is currently serving as the Senior Technical Editor for the journal, Experimental Mechanics and is on the editorial board for Composites Science and Technology. She is also the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.

Personal website: www.tam.uiuc.edu/faculty/sottos

Scott White (AE)

Duke University

Adrian Bejan received his B..S. (1971, Honors Course), M.S. (1972, Honors Course), and Ph.D. (1975) degrees in mechanical engineering, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Fellow of the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, at the University of California, Berkeley (1976-1978). He is J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University (1984-).

Professor Bejan’s research covers a wide range of topics in engineering: thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, convection in porous media, and the constructal theory of organization in nature. He is the author of 19 books and over 430 journal articles. He is a recipient of the Max Jakob Memorial Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He received the Ralph Coats Roe Award of the American Society of Engineering Education. From the ASME he also received the Worcester Reed Warner Medal, The Edward F. Obert Award, the James Harry Potter Gold Medal, the Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, the Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award, and the Heat Transfer Memorial Award in Science.

Adrian Bejan was awarded 14 honorary doctorates by universities in 10 countries, e.g., the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich 2003. He is ranked among the 100 most cited authors in all of engineering, all fields, all countries (www.isihighlycited.com).

Olaf von Ramm (Bioengineering & School of Medicine)

University of California, Los Angeles

• Tom Hahn (ME)
• Fred Wudl (Chem)

Harvard University (consulting)

• Don Ingber (Pathology & School of Medicine)