Register to attend in-person

Register to attend via Zoom

___

The 2022 lecture will honor the accomplishments of Stephen H. Davis, Walter P. Murphy Professor Emeritus of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, who passed away at age 82 on November 12, 2021. Professor Davis's contributions to fluid mechanics and materials science are well known, and the event will celebrate his life and research.

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Grae Worster, professor of fluid dynamics at the University of Cambridge. Northwestern Engineering professors Michael J. Miksis and Peter W. Voorhees will also deliver remarks.

___

Grae Worster

Professor of Fluid Dynamics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge

Worster's lecture, "The Dynamics of Super-absorbent Hydrogels," will outline how he and his colleagues developed a new mathematical approach to model super-absorbent hydrogels, allowing for strongly nonlinear swelling while remaining linear in deviatoric strains, in effect treating hydrogels as instantaneously incompressible and linear elastic materials. Worster will describe this model and illustrate its features by solving simple examples of swelling spheres and transpiration through cylinders, and by analyzing different instabilities that can arise during swelling and drying. Worster will also introduce a hypothesis for a potential role of hydrogels in pumping water up very tall trees.