ABSTRACT

In 1977, Purcell delivered his seminal lecture “Life at Low Reynolds Number,” illuminating the unique physical challenges faced by microorganisms swimming in viscous-dominated environments. Fifty years later, the foundational insights of that talk continue to inspire a diverse array of scientific and engineering advances. We will revisit how insights and approaches developed over the past 50 years have revealed richer dynamics beyond the classical picture, and explore where the next five decades may lead.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

Dr. On Shun Pak received his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego in 2013. He then continued his research as a post-doctoral research fellow at Princeton University, before joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University as a faculty member in 2014. His current research interests include low-Reynolds-number flows, microswimmers, and complex fluids.

MOST RECENT RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Low-Reynolds-number flows, microswimmers, and complex fluids.