Frank and Ora Lee Marble Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Cecil and Sally Drinkward Leadership Chair, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering; Executive Officer for Mechanical and Civil Engineering
B.S., University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), 1987; M.S., Stanford University, 1988; Ph.D., 1994. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 1994-2000; Associate Professor, 2000-05; Professor, 2005-16; Marble Professor, 2017-; Drinkward Leadership Chair, 2022-; Executive Officer, 2022-.
Research interests: Fluid dynamics: global instabilities, cavitation and bubble dynamics, aerodynamic sound. Control: closed-loop flow control and reduced-order modeling. Biomedical fluid dynamics: shock-waves, lithotripsy and ultrasound. Numerical methods: interface capturing, immersed-boundary methods, high-order-accurate methods, and nonreflecting boundary conditions.
Overview
Professor Colonius studies complex, multiscale flow phenomena and their control using theory, numerical experiments, and simulations. Simulations from his lab have provided key insights into such subject areas as turbulence, instabilities, sources of sound, and shock and bubble dynamics. His research has broad applications—from ultrasound imaging and therapy to mitigating jet noise to generating energy from flow systems.
Research Website