MIT's Howard Brenner to Present at Purdue
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Purdue University’s Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics (CCAM) welcomes Howard Brenner, Willard H. Dow Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a part of its Thematic Visiting Scientist Program.
Brenner will be giving a presentation entitled “Measuring Darcy Permeability Without Flow” on Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in Matthews Hall 304. Faculty and students are welcome to attend. No reservations are necessary.
His talk will summarize his recent work on the subject of (gravity-free) fluid motion in continua generated by the presence of “slip” occurring at solid-fluid surfaces arising from an externally-imposed temperature gradient along the surface. An application of the general concept to porous media will show that it is possible, in principle, to experimentally measure the Darcy permeability of a porous medium without requiring that fluid flow through its pores; the notions apply equally to gases and liquids.
Half hour time slots are also available for faculty and/or students to meet with Brenner on April 19th. Those interested in scheduling time with Brenner should contact Heather Connell in the CCAM office via phone at 496-7678 or via e-mail at connellh@math.purdue.edu.
Brenner received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Pratt Institute in 1950 and Ph.D. from New York University in 1957. His 46-year career as a chemical engineering faculty member includes New York University (1955-1966), Carnegie-Mellon University (1966-1977), the University of Rochester — as Departmental Chair (1977-1981) and, since 1981, MIT, where he is currently W.H. Dow Professor. Brenner has co-authored three fluid dynamics books, namely “Low Reynolds Number Hydrodynamics (1965),” “Interfacial Transport Processes and Rheology (1991), ” and “Macrotransport Processes (1993).” Honors include the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Lewis, Walker, and Alpha Chi Sigma Awards, the American Society for Engineering Education’s Senior Research Gold Medal Award, the American Chemical Society’s Kendall Award in Colloid Science, and the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology. Brenner holds membership in the National Academies of Science and Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Lifelong research interests focus on modeling chromatographic bio-particle separation processes in microfluidic devices and, more fundamentally, quantifying the molecular and convective transport of volume, viewed as a transportable, non-material entity.
The Thematic Visiting Scientist Program is made available through the Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics. The Center designates a research theme every semester. Experts in the subject are invited to speak at speak at Purdue University. The theme for the Spring 2006 semester is “Porous Media”, and the organizer is Dr. John Cushman.
The Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics (CCAM) is based in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Science. It offers a comprehensive graduate educational and research program in applied and computational mathematics. CCAM promotes both fundamental research and scientific and engineering applications. The center’s director is Professor Maarten V. de Hoop.
