Faculty Profiles

Prof. Saintillian’s research centers on the study of fundamental fluid mechanics problems involving complex fluids and complex flows, typically on small scales. His team use a combination of modeling, theory, and numerical simulations to study the dynamics and properties of flows involving a microstructure (such as particles, macromolecules, swimming micro-organisms, biopolymers) suspended in and interacting with a viscous fluid, as arise in many biophysical, environmental, and technological processes. He is particularly interested in fluid flow problems in which complexity arises from: multiphysics phenomena in which the interactions of various effects (mechanical, electric, chemical, or thermal) lead to complex dynamics; the effects of long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions on fluctuations and pattern formation; the coupling of a large number of degrees of freedom (such as particle configurations). Many of the current problems of interest are motivated by simple experiments, biological phenomena, or engineering applications, and their solution often involves applied mathematics, large-scale computation, and comparisons to experimental data.

Capsule Bio:

Professor David Saintillan received a B.S. in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, France, in 2001, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003 and 2006. He then worked as a Research Scientist at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University before joining the University of Illinois in 2008, where he was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering. He was the recipient of the Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society in 2007, of the Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal in Mechanical Engineering in 2011, and of an NSF CAREER Award in 2012.