Dr. Nganguia’s earliest involvement in research dates back to his undergraduate studies. In his sophomore year he began learning about ways mathematics could be used to model various processes and natural phenomena. He was introduced to fluid dynamics, and later co-authored his first paper investigating the plausible links between coastal topology and whale strandings.

In graduate school, Dr. Nganguia turned his focus to applications in medicine and physiology. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the response of deformable interfaces to an externally applied electric field, and pursued this research topic during his first postdoctoral appointment. In particular he considered how droplets (simple boundaries defined by surface tension), and vesicles (closed lipid layers frequently used as models for biological cells) deform when subjected to an electric field.

Later during his second postdoctoral appointment, Dr. Nganguia branched out and began investigating microorganisms’ swimming in complex fluids. He quickly found the topic practically relevant and nontrivial, considering microorganisms live in a world with negligible inertia (a world where viscous forces dominate). Moreover, while propulsion in simple fluids has enjoyed decades of productive research, microorganisms live in biological fluids that are heterogeneous and/or polymeric, displaying complex rheological properties. With this realization, Dr. Nganguia went on to study the swimming mechanics of microorganisms in so-called thin-shearing fluids, and in heterogeneous environments.

Dr. Nganguia is now working on integrating these theories (electrohydrodynamics and microorganisms’ propulsion) to investigate problems of practical relevance. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, he hopes his research will help develop electrically-driven systems that can be deployed to improve patients’ care and outcomes. He continues to collaborate with colleagues at various institutions on these and other research projects related to mathematical biology and fluid dynamics.

PI Nganguia acknowledges support from NSF LEAPS-MPS 2211633

Dr. Nganguia’s Mathematical Fluid Dynamics Group is recruiting students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. If you are interested in Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Physics, and/or multiscale modeling, and would like to join our group, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Graduate Students

  • Christelle Etaba (Spring 2024-present): Applied Mathematics
  • Ryan Peters (Fall 2023-present): Applied Mathematics
  • William “Will” Hunter (Fall 2023-present): Applied Mathematics
  • Ummul Aymen (Fall 2022-Spring 2023): Applied Mathematics
  • James Della-Giustina (Fall 2022-Fall 2023): Applied Mathematics
  • Omar Farooqui (Fall 2022-Spring 2023): Applied Mathematics

Undergraduate Students

  • Efosa Owie (Spring 2024-present): Pure Mathematics
  • Alex Holtzman (Fall 2023-present): Math Ed (switched to Applied Mathematics)
  • Geena Sarnoski (Fall 2023-present): Actuarial Sciences (switched to Applied Mathematics)
  • Jazmin Sharp (Summer 2023-present): Applied Mathematics
  • Mary Meloni (Fall 2023-present): Math Ed (switched to Applied Mathematics)
  • Adedoyin “Doyin” Adegbuyi (Fall 2022-Spring 2023): Computer Sciences/Mathematics
  • Youssef Ben Bella (Fall 2022): Computer Sciences
  • William “Will” Hunter (Fall 2022-Spring 2023): Mathematics
  • Ifenyinwa “Ife” Okeke (Fall 2022-Spring 2023): Molecular Biology

Gallery

Fluids Group Announcements and Updates

  • April 5, 2024: PI Nganguia’s paper, titled “Ciliary propulsion through nonuniform flows,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2022 IF: 3.7)
  • April 2, 2024: PI Nganguia’s paper, titled “The effect of particle geometry on squirming in a heterogeneous medium,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2022 IF: 3.7)
  • January 29, 2024: Welcome to our new members Christelle (graduate student) and Efosa (undergraduate student)
  • December 18, 2023: James successfully defended his graduate project. Congratulations, James!
  • October 23, 2023: PI Nganguia and collaborators submitted a research paper for peer-review.
  • September 15, 2023: PI Nganguia and collaborators submitted a research paper for peer-review.
  • September 11, 2023: The group held its annual Fall meeting and welcomed Ryan Peters (graduate student) as a new member. Will is returning to complete an MS in Applied Mathematics.
  • June 5-July 28, 2023: Jazmin took part in the Research Experience for Undergraduate program (REU) at TU. PI Nganguia served as research mentor for the students who, besides TU, came from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), the University of Rhodes Island and Buena Vista University in Iowa. During the 8-week program, the students learned about fluid dynamics and numerically investigated the propulsion of a squirmer in Newtonian fluids using Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs). The students and mentors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation.
  • June 1, 2023: Welcome to our new undergraduate members: Alex, Geena, Jazmin, and Mary.
  • May 29, 2023: PI Nganguia and Aymen‘s paper, titled “Influence of heterogeneity or shape on the locomotion of a caged squirmer,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2021 IF: 4.245)
  • May 26, 2023: Congratulations to the group’s first graduates: Aymen, Doyin, Ife, Omar, and Will.
  • May 22, 2023: Omar successfully defended his graduate project. Congratulations, Omar!
  • May 18, 2023: Doyin successfully defended her honors thesis. Congratulations, Doyin!
  • April 28, 2023: PI Nganguia and James‘ paper, titled “Squirming with a backward-propelling cage,” has been accepted for publication as a Featured Letter in Physics of Fluids (2021 IF: 4.98)
  • March 31, 2023: James, PI Nganguia and collaborators submitted a research paper for peer-review.
  • March 7-8, 2023: Aymen and James presented their research findings at the American Physical Society (APS) Meeting in Las Vegas
  • February 9, 2023: Aymen, PI Nganguia and collaborators submitted a research paper for peer-review.
  • December 22, 2022: PI Nganguia’s paper, titled “Influence of surface viscosities on the electrodeformation of a prolate viscous drop,” has been accepted for publication in Soft Matter (2021 IF: 4.046)
  • December 20, 2022: Aymen successfully defended her graduate project. Congratulations, Aymen!
  • November 2022: The group acquired two (2) M1-MAX Mac Studio, 10TB of external storage space, and other accessories to support its deep learning and numerical simulations. This acquisition is made possible through PI Nganguia’s Fischer Endowed Chair.
  • November 2022: One member (Youssef) left the group while a new member, Doyin joined. Welcome Doyin!
  • September 30, 2022: PI Nganguia and collaborators submitted a research paper for peer-review.
  • August 31, 2022: The group held its inaugural meeting. Welcome to our graduate students: Aymen, James, and Omar, and our undergraduate students: Youssef, William, and Ife. PI Nganguia gratefully acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and from the Fischer Endowed Chair from TU’s Fischer College of Science and Mathematics (FCSM). Two graduate students (Aymen and James) and the undergraduate students are supported through NSF.