Fluids are everywhere, in the air we breathe, and in the water we drink. As living organisms, fluids provide the environment in which we live, and the understanding of fluid motion (from the smallest micro-scale organisms to the largest planetary-scale storms which stir our atmosphere) is vital to understanding how living organisms function.
The understanding of fluid dynamics is both an experimental and mathematical endeavor. This research training grant will facilitate training of a full spectrum of students (undergraduates, graduates, and post-graduates) to work at the interface of experimental and theoretical science in research focused upon discovering new fluid phenomena through laboratory experiments, and the development of mathematical theory for better predicting these new phenomena. The training provided will prepare future mathematical scientists to engage directly with experimentalists in the area of biological and environmental fluid dynamics crucial to understanding how we interact with our environment on a wide range of spatio-temporal scales. The trainees will be developed into true interdisciplinary mathematical scientists with expertise in both mathematical technique and experimental laboratory method. The experimental fluid phenomena studied in the UNC fluid dynamics laboratories housed in the Mathematics and Physics departments will be the focus of a uniformly balanced research approach which will bring together new experiments and new mathematical (theoretical and computational) predictions to better our understanding of fluid phenomena in nature.
The specific focus will be upon two different experimental regimes of micro-fluidic transport phenomena (directly relevant to muco-ciliary transport in the lung), and of laboratory-scale stratified fluid phenomena (directly relevant to mixing in the atmosphere and oceans). Through a combination of a structured advising system (with 8 mathematics and 1 physics faculty advisors), rotations through the involved laboratories, regular group meetings, and a modified course of study, this RTG grant will develop a new generation of mathematical scientists prepared with the necessary tools to effectively work on truly interdisciplinary science.
