November 30, 2012  1:00 pm GOS A-300  reception to follow in the Atrium

Complex, yet everyday, fluids

Abstract:

Newtonian fluids are fluids that behave like water.  Many fluids do not behave like water, these fluids are known as  non-Newtonian, or complex, fluids.  Examples of such fluids include shampoo, ketchup, silly putty,  bread dough, and mucus.  In this talk properties of a selection of these complex, yet everyday,  fluids, will be presented along with a description of experimental measurements, of models,  and of simulations,  of flows of these fluids.  A special focus will be on a particular class of fluids  known as `living polymers'.

Pamela Cook  

Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware

After completing her PhD. in Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, Pam Cook received a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship to Utrecht University, the Netherlands.  For 10 years thereafter she was on the mathematics faculty at UCLA (the University of California at Los Angeles) where she became Associate Professor with tenure.  Following that she moved to the University of Delaware where she has served as Chair of the Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, as Associate Dean for Research and Planning of the College of Arts and Sciences, and  as Associate Dean of Engineering.  Dr. Cook has held visiting positions at California Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland, and at the Institute for Math and its Applications at the University of Minnesota.  Her current research is on mathematical modeling and prediction of flow properties of complex fluids, especially highly entangled fluids such as wormlike micelles.  Her mathematical interests are in modeling, nonlinear partial differential equations, asymptotics and perturbations; her earlier work was in transonic aerodynamics and she is co–author of a book by that name. Dr. Cook directs the UD ADVANCE P.A.I.D. grant activities focused on recruitment and retention of women faculty in STEM.  She received the WEPAN (Women Engineers ProActive Network) University Change Agent Award 2012. Dr. Cook  is Vice-President for Publications of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (S.I.A.M.), she is an (inaugural) Fellow of S.I.A.M., and an Associate Fellow of A.I.A.A. (American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics).