Donald L. Koch

Donald L. Koch

Professor
Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
167C Olin Hall
607/255-3484
Back to Directory

Biography

Donald Koch received his BS in chemical engineering and BA in history from Case Western Reserve University in 1981 and his PhD in chemical engineering from the Massachuesetts Institutute of Technology in 1986. After a year of postdoctoral study at DAMTP in Cambridge University, he joined the School of Chemical Engineering at Cornell University where he is now a full professor. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, coauthor of over 100 scientific publications in the fields of particulate and multiphase flow, and has supervised 18 PhD students.

Research Interests

Rheology and average transport processes in particle suspensions, porous media, micro- and nano-structured materials. Particle-filled polymeric materials. Solvent-free nanoparticle fluids. Aggregation processes in colloids and aerosols. Non-continuum gas flows and reactions. Collective behavior of swimming micro-organisms. Convective heat and mass transfer in particulate systems. Two-way coupling in particle-laden turbulent gas flows. Geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. Geothermal energy extraction.

Research Group Members

Teaching Interests

Fluid Mechanics; Heat and mass transport; Colloid and Aerosol Science.

Service Interests

Kaust-CU Center for Energy and Sustainability: Co-Thrust leader for CO2 Capture and Conversion

Earth Energy IGERT co-PI

Developed a website on bacterial swimming for outreach to high school students.

Selected Publications

  • Singh, John P., Sourav Padhya, Eric Shaqfeh, Donald L Koch. 2012."Flow of power-law fluids in fixed beds of cylinders or spheres."Journal of Fluid Mechanics713: 491-527.
  • Sundararajan, P., J. D. Kirtland, Donald L. Koch, A. D. Stroock. 2012."Impact of chaos and Brownian diffusion on irreversibility in Stokes flows."Physical Review E86(4): 046203-046208.
  • Kaysap, T.V., Donald L Koch. 2012."Chemotaxis driven instability of a confined bacterial suspension."Physical review letters108(3): 038101-038105.
  • Yang, C., J. Zhang, Donald L. Koch, X.L. Yin. 2011."Mass/heat transfer from a neutrally buoyant sphere in simple shear flow at finite Reynolds and Peclet numbers."AIChE Journal57: 1419.
  • Xu, H., R. Verberg, Donald L. Koch, Michel Yves Louge. 2009."Dense, bounded shear flows of agitated solid spheres in a gas at intermediate Stokes and finite Reynolds numbers."Journal of Fluid Mechanics618: 181-208.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Fellow(American Physical Society)1998
  • Presidential Young Investigator1988
  • Frenkiel Award (APS/DFD)1988
  • NATO Postdoctoral Fellow1986
  • National Science Foundation Fellow1981

Education

  • B.S.(Chemical Engineering),Case Western Reserve University,1981
  • B.A.(History),Case Western Reserve University,1981
  • Ph.D.(Chemical Engineering),Massachusetts Institute of Technology,1985

Research Group Members

Graduate Students