Chris MacMinn SB SM PhD

Chris's background is in mechanical engineering, with a specialization in fluid mechanics from the interdisciplinary perspectives of engineering, hydrology, and applied mathematics. He earned his SB (2005) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after which he spent about one year in engineering consulting, working at Creare LLC and then Navigant Consulting, Inc.

Chris returned to MIT to earn his SM (2008) and PhD (2012) in mechanical engineering, working with Professor Ruben Juanes on the fluid mechanics of geological carbon dioxide storage. He was then a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute at Yale University, where he worked with Professors John Wettlaufer and Eric Dufresne on the poromechanics of soft granular materials. Chris joined Oxford in October 2013 as a University Lecturer (renamed to Associate Professor in early 2014).

Chris leads the Poromechanics Laboratory, an interdisciplinary team of engineers, physicists, mathematicians, and earth scientists. They use mathematical modelling, numerical simulations, and high-resolution laboratory experiments to study flow, transport, and deformation in porous media and other multiphase systems for applications in subsurface science and engineering, soft materials, and biology and medicine.

He is active in peer review for a variety of journals across physics, engineering, and geoscience, and serves as a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College.

DEFTPORE

Understanding the coupling between flow, transport, and deformation in soft porous materials (ERC)

POPFS

Permeation of polymer fluids in soils -- in collaboration with Imperial College and Cambridge University (EPSRC)

FRIICFLOW

Frictional flow patterns shaped by viscous and capillary forces -- in collaboration with Swansea University (EPSRC)

SOFT-FINGER

Using fluid-structure interactions to control viscous fingering in soft flow cells (EPSRC)

SOFT-BUBBLE

Investigating bubble migration through soft granular media (The Royal Society)