CoMFRE

CoMFRE’s Shankar Subramaniam delivered an invited lecture on turbulent particle suspensions at the 2024 International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics symposium on rapid granular flows and turbulent particle suspensions 

CoMFRE's Shankar Subramaniam, recently attended a symposium of leading multiphase flow researchers from across the globe in Mumbai, India. Read More

June 12, 2024

CoMFRE’s Dennis Vigil leads project to develop continuous bioreactor

March 29, 2024

Thanks to CoMFRE undergrad research experience, Olivia Tyrrell shot for the moon… and made it

March 28, 2024

New Soft Matter Electrostatic Levitator makes possible world’s first neutron scattering on levitated salt solution droplets up to extreme supersaturation

John Jonghyun Lee, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, led research that demonstrated the world’s first neutron scattering on levitated salt solution droplets up to extreme supersaturation. The team used a novel instrument they designed called a Soft Matter Electrostatic Levitator (SEL), integrated into the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor’s WAND2 facility. Read More

December 1, 2023

Advancing “placenta-on-a-chip” with sensing and imaging technology

Nicole Hashemi and her students will advance a "placenta-on-a-chip" – which models how medicines, nutrients and other substances are passed from mother to fetus – with a new, three-year, $350,000 National Science Foundation Mid-Career Advancement grant. Read More

November 28, 2023

Breaking barriers in filtration: CoMFRE researchers developing new approach to maintaining colloidal filtration systems

Jaime Juarez, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Michael Olsen, professor of mechanical engineering, have secured an NSF award to study an innovative approach to maintaining colloidal filtration systems. Juarez and Olsen are exploring using acoustic waves to break apart colloid buildup and or prevent buildup from developing. Read More

September 15, 2023

Ted Heindel receives ASME 2023 Freeman Scholar Award

Theodore (Ted) J. Heindel, the Bergles Professor of Thermal Science, University Professor of mechanical engineering, and director of Iowa State’s Center for Multiphase Flow Research and Education (CoMFRE), has been selected to receive the 2023 Freeman Scholar Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Read More

July 21, 2023

Fynn Reinbacher fires up oxy-fuel combustion project in Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship

Fynn Reinbacher, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering and a graduate assistant in CoMFRE affiliate James Michael’s research group, was a Gas Turbine Industrial Fellow at Southwest Research Institute. Reinbacher focused on three projects in oxy-fuel combustion, contributing unique multi-phase flow research expertise he developed at Iowa State. Read More

June 7, 2023

The Conversation: Ted Heindel, fluid flow expert, on why peanut butter is a liquid and the physics of this and other unexpected fluids

"When the TSA recently confiscated a jar of Jif under the rule that only liquid under 3.4 ounces can be carried on a plane, peanut butter lovers were up in arms. Just like Americans’ favorite legume-based sandwich ingredient, the story – and the outrage it inspired – began to spread. However, I’m a mechanical engineer who studies fluid flows, and the TSA action made sense to me. By the scientific definition, peanut butter is indeed a liquid." Read More

May 4, 2023

CoMFRE’s Ganapathysubramanian leads $20 million AI institute

CoMFRE affiliate Baskar Ganapathysubramanian leads a new five-year, $20 million AI institute that will accelerate the productivity and sustainability of agriculture, including harnessing multiphase flow phenomena for resilient ag. The NSF and USDA-NIFA-funded project brings together expertise of researchers at eight universities and organizations across the U.S., including CoMFRE’s Adarsh Krishnamurthy. Read More

December 1, 2021