Mingyang Tan

Research Interests

Composites with aligned, embedded particles can have enhanced mechanical, magnetic, optical, and thermal properties over conventional materials. The particle size, volume fraction, and orientation distribution effect the composites’ properties. I am interested in investigating the dynamics of particles inside the medium. Upon being exposed to an external field, particles can be aligned and aggregated. Building models that predict the timescale associated with alignment and aggregation is crucial. In our study, the magnetic disk-shaped particles with external magnetic fields are investigated.

Nanoparticles and microparticles inside fluids can either be driven by the thermal energy of the fluids to undergo Brownian motion or driven by external forces like magnetic force to undergo active motion. The motion of the particles can be associated with the physical properties of the fluids. The study of linking the motion of particles with physical properties of the fluids is called microrheology. My research objective is to study the microrheology of complex fluids. The heterogeneity of some complex fluids such as mucus raises interesting and challenging problems to developing drug-delivery vehicles. With the knowledge of microrheology, we can find the “easy” spots for drugs to travel through the mucus to cure diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF).

Publications

Select Awards and Honors

• Oregon Lottery Graduate Scholarship