Biological Fluid Dynamics

Course Content

We seek motivated students from a broad range of disciplines and perspectives eager to join us in exploring biology and bio-inspiration in the context of fluid dynamics. We will study topics that cross traditional boundaries, and therefore look forward to the participation of students from various STEM fields ranging from Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Medicine, Physics, to name but a few examples. Via active participation in this course students will, for instance, be able to:

• Conduct analysis, design and optimization through the lens of evolution, and subsequently perform validation of methods against theory or experiment;
• Understand and manipulate the governing equations for unsteady flows across a broad range of scales, e.g. from cellular motility to macroscale bio-propulsion;
• Solve problems relating to pulsatile internal flows (e.g. cardiovascular systems) as well as in the context of unsteady aerodynamics/hydrodynamics; and
• Apply qualitative/quantitative reasoning to support real-world bioengineering, biomedical or biologically-inspired design, ranging from pharmaceutical engineering, medical-device development, study of physiological mechanisms, development of imaging techniques, design of autonomous robots, etc.