My main research now focuses on the dynamics of complex fluids, specifically
wormlike micellar fluids.
Before coming to Penn State, however, I worked on other things, such as falling paper, and also the dynamics of spirals in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. While I am not currently studying these beautiful patterns, they still remain in the back of my mind, turning slowly...
The image of spirals in the BZ reaction shown above was
taken in the Pritchard Lab in April 1999, with Megan O'Connell (undergraduate math major). She also contributed to our paper on
light sensitivity in the BZ reaction.