Fluid Dynamics Lab People

Professor Alfonso A. Castrejon-Pita BSc, MSc, MA (Oxf) DPhil (Oxf)

Group Leader, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Associate Professor in Fluid Mechanics Fellow, Wadham College.

Prof. A. A. Castrejon-Pita obtained his D.Phil. in Physics at the University of Oxford, funded by a prestigious Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate award. His research was centred on experimental and theoretical studies of synchronization phenomena in fluid dynamics in the context of geophysical flows. This was followed by a postdoctoral position in the same laboratory funded by NERC (Natural Environment Research Council, UK) on the experimental demonstration of chaos synchronization in mutually coupled fluid flows, with greater implications to atmospheric dynamics such as weather forecast. From April 2011 to September 2013 he was a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, and a Researcher at St. John’s College, where he redirected his research towards a better understanding of the dynamics of small-scale free surface flows. Prof. Castrejon-Pita was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in October 2013 which he holds at the University of Oxford, where is also a Fellow of Wadham College. In Oxford, he established the Fluid Dynamics Laboratory for the study of drops and liquid jets. He also supervises the research of MEng, MSc(R) and DPhil students in the the Department and in College.

Members

Abe Pritchard (DPhil Student) Abe is a DPhil student in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, working within the Fluid Dynamics Lab. He previously completed an MSc in Mathematical Sciences at Oxford and a BSc in Mathematics at the University of Manchester. His doctoral research, supervised by Professor Alfonso Castrejón-Pita in the Fluid Dynamics Lab and Professor Dominic Vella in the Mathematical Institute, investigates bubble rupture and its suppression through vibration-induced stabilisation. His work combines mathematical analysis with laboratory experiments, with applications across interfacial flows, particularly inkjet printing.

Cristian Soitu (DPhil. Harris Manchester College, Oxford). Cristian received his MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University of Aberdeen in 2016 with a research focus on stochastic methods for fluid flow simulation. His current research is trying to exploit the dominance of interfacial forces at the microscale to develop a microfluidic platform that accommodates cell- and organism-based assays in biology. He is co-supervised by Prof. E. Walsh.

Jack McCarthy (DPhil. St. Cross College, Oxford) For his Bachelor’s degree, Jack studied Mathematical Sciences at the University of Limerick. It was under the guidance of Prof. Stephen O’Brien that he first encountered capillary phenomena. From Limerick he came to Oxford where he completed an MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing. He is interested in the broad areas of fluid mechanics and soft matter physics especially mechanical phenomena that occur on everyday length scales. For his DPhil he is working on droplet motion driven by energy minimisation on complex surfaces theoretically and experimentally and evaporation of drops on complex surfaces. In his spare time he enjoys many pursuits, including chess, badminton, philosophy and going to orchestral music concerts around Oxford. However, much of this free time is now occupied by learning piano. He is co-supervised by Prof. D. Vella from the Mathematical Institute.

Academic Visitors:

Prof. Heliodoro Gonzalez (University of Seville, Spain) Summer 2015

Francisco Jose Gomez (PhD, University of Seville Seville) Summer 2015

Prof. Eduardo Ramos (IER-UNAM, Mexico) RAEng Newton Fund Partnership Summer 2015. Back in Mexico!

Prof. Francisco Javier Garcia-Garcia (University of Seville), July 2018

Prof. Mathieu Sellier (University Canterbury, NZ), October 2018-December 2018.

Mr. Jorge Chavarrias (PhD student at UNAM, Mexico), June 2018-December 2018.

Dr. Saul Piedra (CIDESI-Mexico), November 2018 and January 2020.

Mr. Thomas Sykes (PhD at University of Leeds), January 2019.

Prof. Arnaud Antkoviak (UPMC/Sorbonne - Paris), April 2019

Arthur Walbecq (ENS de Lyon), Summer 2019

Former Members

Dr. Juan Arcenegui-Troya (PhD University of Seville). Juan is now a PDRA at the University of Seville

Dr. Graham Benham (DPhil in Applied Mathematics), May 2016-July 2018. Now a Postdoc at DAMPT, Paris.

William Dick-Cleland (MEng, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford). 2017/2018.

Will Wheeler (MEng, Christ Church College) 2016/2017, now at Expeditions Engineering Ltd.

Emilie Benedicte Monique Raguin (ENS TA ParisTech) Summer 2016

Dr. Emilio J. Vega R. (University of Extremadura) Summer 2016. Academic Visitor

Benjamin Fudge (Wadham, Oxford) Summer 2016. EPSRC Vacation Bursary Student. Now DPhil at Oxford.

Christopher Howland (MMath, Trinity College ) Summer 2015. Now a PhD student at DAMTP, Cambridge.

John Hendrick (MEng, St Catherine College, 2015/2016).Now at Glaxo Smith Kline

Dongjin Kim (MEng. Jesus College, 2015/2016).

Daniel Zajarias-Fainsod (MSc. (Res), Wadham College) 2014-2016, Now at Rambam Health Care Campus, Israel Institute of Technology

Ahmed Said (PhD, University of Seville Seville) Summer 2015. Now Postdoc at Queen Mary University of London

Cindy Chen (MEng, Lady Margaret Hall) 2014-2015

Nicholas Jones (MEng, Jesus College) 2014-2015. Now at EDF Energy

Ellis Parry (DPhil, St. John’s College)

Waqas Kamal (DPhil, Exeter College)

Alva Orr  (DPhil, Queen's College)

Benjamin Fudge (DPhil, Wadham College, Oxford)