My research spans turbulence, active matter, and liquid-liquid phase separation. During my PhD at the University of Chicago, I have developed an approach to confine turbulence by colliding vortex rings akin to smoke rings. Using 2D/3D velocimetry and simulations, I revealed the transition into a confined state of turbulence and demonstrated controlled injection of helicity into turbulence and produced award-winning flow visualizations. I also investigated the collective dynamics of chiral active spinners at intermediate Reynolds numbers, uncovering flocking behaviors unique in this regime1. I continued to collaborate with Profs. Nigel Goldenfeld (UCSD) and William Irvine (UChicago) to examine the decay and propagation of turbulence, revealing its nonlinear transport nature and a decay law linked to the large-scale structure.
After my Ph.D., I was awarded the Schmidt Science Fellowship, a self-funded program delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Trust that supports scientists in pursuing interdisciplinary research beyond their doctoral field. With this support, I pivoted into biophysics in Prof. Eric R. Dufresne’s lab at Cornell University. There, I have conducted research on the thermodynamics of biomolecular condensates, membraneless organelles formed via liquid-liquid phase separation in the cytoplasm. I have demonstrated that enzymatic reactions could tune the onset of phase separation, and that LLPS enhances enzymatic activity by compartmentalization while revealing how this activity depends on droplet viscosity. These findings and methods lay the foundation for my ongoing effort to design active biomolecular condensates, an exciting frontier in biophysics.
Current projects:
- Enzyme-mediated control of biomolecular condensates (experimental)
- Thermodynamics of liquid-liquid phase separation (experimental)
- Development of a Python package to assess fluid mechanics data (software)
Past projects
- turbulence: decay (experimental, engineering)
- turbulence: creation of a turbulent blob through vortex ring collision (experimental, theoretical, numerical, engineering)
- flow visualization: turbulent flows, flows inside objects using an index-matched fluid and a 3D printer,
- splashing of low-viscosity fluids (experimental)
- 3D melting of Yukawa system (Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics (LAMMPS) simulations)
- assessment of muon production rate by several experimental scenarios @Fermilab (numerical)
- modeling synaptic plasticity of Alzheimer's patients (numerical)
- mathematical modeling on vaccine efficacy (mathematical)
- Cowl design and manufacturing, Formula SAE Japan (engineering)