I am interested in the hydrodynamics of ionic liquids on small scales. Matter is electrically neutral on macroscopic scales and electrostatic forces are usually not of any great consequence on the scale of everyday things. However, at very small scales (on the order of 100 microns and less) electrostatic forces at charged interfaces can actually drive fluid flow. Examples of such electrokinetic effects include electroosmosis and electrophoresis. Electroosmosis has important applications in microfluidics and nanotechnology. Electrophoresis, the motion of charged macro-molecules in water is used to separate bio-molecules (e.g. in sequencing DNA).The Brownian dynamics of charged polymers in ionic fluids determine how the machinery of biological systems function at the cellular and subcellular level. My research is concerned with mathematical modeling of such phenomena using a combination of asymptotic and numerical approaches.

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