TAMU · 3123 TAMU, COLLEGE STATION, TX · USA

E-MAIL sungyon.lee@tamu.edu · PHONE 979.862.4201

Sungyon Lee

Research Interests
Fluid dynamics, Multiphase flows, Particle-laden flows, Biolocomotion, Microfluidics, Drops
and bubbles, Thin films, Interfacial dynamics, Viscoelastic instabilities
Education
2010 Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dissertation: Biolocomotion near free surfaces in Stokes flows: mechanism of swimming and
optimization.
Thesis advisor: Anette (Peko) Hosoi
2007 M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Master’s Thesis: Galerkin Method to Model Thin Free Surface Flows.
Thesis advisor: Anette (Peko) Hosoi
2003 B.S., University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering (High Honors)

Research Experience
2013-present Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University.
Assistant professor - Specializes in theoretical modeling and experimentation of multiphase
flows in industrial applications.
2011-2013 Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles.
Assistant adjunct professor - Developed a diffusive model for a monodisperse slurry inside a
helical channel and bidensity suspensions on an incline. Co-supervised undergraduate students
to conduct experiments to study the separation behavior of a bidisperse slurry. Co-supervised a
graduate student to model lateral migration of a particle in the context of inertial microfluidics.
2011 Manchester Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, School of Mathematics, University of
Manchester.
Visiting researcher - Developed a simplified analytic model to describe the trapping mechanism
of a bubble inside a square capillary. Used Surface Evolver to numerically study the shape a
trapped bubble to the good agreement with experiments and predicted the critical flow rate
of bubble release.
2010-2011 Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique (LadHyX), Department of Mechanics, École Polytech-
nique.
Post-doctoral researcher - Theoretically verified the effectiveness of channel indentations in
holding microdroplets stationary against a mean flow inside 2D microchannels. Conducted
experiments to visualize internal and external flows of a stationary microdroplet. Numerically
modeled the 3D recirculation flow patterns inside the droplet using COMSOL.
2004-2009 Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT.
Graduate student researcher - Investigated the locomotive mechanism of water snails that
crawl beneath the air-water interface. Generalized the water snail locomotion to an arbitrarily
small swimmer near a free surface in the low Reynolds number limit. Derived asymptotic
solutions and performed optimization to uncover the role of surface tension in the swimming
efficiency. Researched different reduced models to study thin free surface flows, particularly
those of viscoelastic fluids.
2001-2004 Center for X-Ray Optics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley.
Undergraduate research assistant - Investigated the process of a void formation and its travel
in a magnetic sample. Incorporated the principles of Fast Fourier Transform into a program
to align a series of images and reduced its percentage of error. Built and tested a shearing
interferometer at a visible light wavelength.
 Sungyon Lee

Teaching & Mentoring Experience

Spring/Fall 2014 Instructor for MEEN 344, Fluid Mechanics, undergraduate course in the TAMU Department
of Mechanical Engineering.
Summer 2014 Faculty mentor for an undergraduate student (Baylor Fain) investigating the proppant trans-
port in hydraulic fracturing, REU, Research Experience for Undergraduates (Texas Center for
Undergraduate Research in Energy and Propulsion).
Summer 2014 Co-faculty host for Enrichment Experiences in Engineering, E3, outreach program for sec-
ondary CTE teachers to gain research experiences to bring to their classrooms.
2011-2013 Co-supervisor for a team of undergraduate students who conduct particle-laden flow experi-
ments in the UCLA Applied Math Lab.
Winter 2012/Spring 2013 Lecturer for Math 142, Mathematical Modeling, undergraduate course in the UCLA Depart-
ment of Mathematics.
Winter 2013 Lecturer for Math 3A, Calculus for Life Sciences Students, undergraduate course of 140 stu-
dents in the UCLA Department of Mathematics.
Summer 2012 Co-mentor for undergraduates investigating the dynamics of bidisperse slurries, REU, Research
Experience for Undergraduates hosted by the UCLA Department of Mathematics.
Fall 2009 Teaching assistant for 2.006, Thermal Fluids Engineering II, undergraduate course in the MIT
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Spring 2007/09 Teaching assistant for 2.001, Mechanics and Materials I, undergraduate course in the MIT
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Summer 2006 Math instructor for first Women’s Technology Program - Mechanical Engineering, WTP-ME,
summer program for high school girls to cultivate their interest in engineering.
Fall 2005 Teaching assistant for 2.25, Advanced Fluid Mechanics, graduate course in the MIT Department
of Mechanical Engineering.

Advising

• PhD Advisor to: Yun Chen; Feng Xu; Alireza Hooshanginejad; Pedram Tazraei
• Thesis Committee Member for: Wei Lu (M.S. 2014 CE); Ben Blumenthal (M.S. 2014 Geology);
Gautham Annamalai (M.S. 2014 ME); Hao-En Lee (M.S. ME); Pin Shuai (Ph.D. Geology); Po-Jung
Huang (Ph.D. MSE)
Service Activities

• Seminar committee (Spring 2014); Educational Development Committee (Fall 2014)

Invited Talks
April 2014 Center of Nonlinear Dynamics, University of Texas, Austin, TX.
December 2013 School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
October 2013 Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA .
March 2013 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M, College Station, TX.
March 2013 Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
February 2013 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA.
February 2013 School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
February 2013 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV.
August 2012 School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
March 2011 School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, England.
December 2010 Laboratoire de Physique de la Matire Condense (LPMC), Nice, France.
September 2010 Laboratoire Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Htrognes (PMMH), Paris, France.
July 2010 Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), Cambridge, England.
May 2010 Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique (LadHyX), Palaiseau, France.
 Sungyon Lee

Publications

Refereed full papers:

• “Crawling Beneath the Free Surface: Water Snail Locomotion”
S. Lee, J.W.M. Bush, A.E. Hosoi & E. Lauga, Phys. Fluids (2008) 20, 082106
• “A two dimensional model of low Reynolds number swimmers beneath a free surface”
D. Crowdy, S. Lee, O. Samson, E. Lauga & A.E. Hosoi, J. Fluid Mech. (2011) 681, 24-47
• “Trapping microfluidic drops in wells of surface energy”
R. Dangla, S. Lee & C. Baroud, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2011) 107, 124501
• “Interface-induced recirculation within a stationary microfluidic drop”
S. Lee, F. Gallaire & C. Baroud, Soft Matter (2012) 8, 10750
*invited article for special issue on microfluidics and soft matter
• “The trapping and release of bubbles from a linear pore”
G. Dawson, S. Lee & A. Juel, J. Fluid Mech. (2013) 722, 437-460
• “Experimental investigation of bidensity slurries on an incline”
S. Lee, A. Mavromoustaki, G. Urdaneta, K. Huang & A. Bertozzi, Granul. Matter (2014) 16, 269-274
*invited paper for the special issue honoring Bob Behringer entitled “Flows and Patterns: The
Physics of Fluids, Granular Materials, and Soft Matter”
• “Behavior of a particle-laden flow in a spiral channel”
S. Lee, Y. Stokes & A. Bertozzi, Phys. Fluids (2014) 26, 043302
*featured in Advances in Engineering Series (https://advancesENG.com/)
• “Trapping and release of giant unilamellar vesicles in microfluidic wells”
A. Yamada, S. Lee, S. Aimon, P. Bassereau & C. Baroud, Soft Matter (2014) 10, 5878-5885
• “Manipulation of Biological Objects Using Acoustic Bubbles: A Review”
Y. Chen & S. Lee, Integr Comp Biol. (2014) 54(6), 959-68
• “Inertial migration of a rigid sphere in three-dimensional Poiseuille flow”
K. Hood, S. Lee & M. Roper, (accepted to J. Fluid Mech.)
• “Fabrication of collagen modular microenvironment by soft micro-mold device with pneumatic
extraction actuator”
P. Huang, H. Yamaguchi, C. Chou, S. Lee, M. Hung & J. Kameoka, (submitted to Adv. Mater.)
Book chapters:
• “Equilibrium theory of bidensity particle-laden flows on an incline”
S. Lee, J. Wong & A. Bertozzi, Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Simulation of Oil Pollution
Problems, Vol. 2, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, (to be published in 2015)
Refereed conference publications:
• “Drops on rails”
R. Dangla, S. Lee & C. Baroud, Microfluidics2010, Toulouse, France (December, 2010)
• “A model for particle laden flow in a spiral concentrator”
S. Lee, Y. Stokes & A. Bertozzi, ICTAM 2012, Beijing, China (August, 2012)
• “Three-dimensional flow reversal in droplets in Hele-Shaw cells”
F. Gallaire, S. Lee & C. Baroudi, ICTAM 2012, Beijing, China (August, 2012)
 Sungyon Lee

Contributed Presentations
November 2014 Session chair for “Session entitled Drops: Bouncing, Impact and Dynamic Surface Interactions
I”
67th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, San Francisco, CA, USA.
November 2014 “High Reynolds number droplet de-pinning on textured surfaces: theory and experiments”
“Dynamics of a solid sphere bouncing on or penetrating through a liquid-air interface”
“Trapping and release of bubbles from a linear pore”
“Particle induced air bubble break-up in a Hele-Shaw cell”
67th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, San Francisco, CA, USA.
November 2014 “Oscillating Bubbles for Microfluidic Manipulation A Theoretical Approach”
ASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, Montreal, Canada.
(poster)
May 2014 “Prediction of Swirl in ESP Impellers”
“Phase separation of multiphase systems based on hydrodynamic principles (CONTINUA-
TION)”
34th annual Turbomachinery Research Consortium, College Station, Texas, USA.
March 2014 Session chair for “Nonlinear acoustic field reconstruction and manipulation”
11th International Conference on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, College Station,
TX, USA
January 2014 “Drops & bubbles in confined geometries”
SICB 2014 Symposium on: Shaking, Dripping, and Drinking: Surface-Tension Phenomena in
Organismal Biology, Austin, TX, USA.
November 2013 “Numerical modeling of bidensity suspensions in gravity-driven, thin-film flows”
“An experimental investigation of the settling and resuspension of gravity-driven, mono- and
bi-disperse slurries”
“Computationally and experimentally assessed gravity-driven, mono- and bidisperse, particle-
laden flows” (poster)
66th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Long Beach, CA, USA.
May 2013 “Phase separation of multiphase systems based on hydrodynamic principles”
33rd annual Turbomachinery Research Consortium, College Station, Texas, USA.
May 2013 “Particle segregation in spiral channels”
ICCES 2013 Mini-symposium on: Computational modeling of complex fluids, particle laden
flow, and fluid structure interactions, Bellevue, Washington, USA.
November 2012 “Bouncing vs penetration of a particle through fluid interface”
“Particle migration and interaction in confined flows”
“Trapping and release of bubbles from a linear pore”
“Bi-disperse particle-laden flows in the Stokes regime”
65th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, San Diego, CA, USA.
August 2012 “Particle-laden flow in a spiral separator”
23rd International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Beijing, China.
April 2012 6th Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
November 2011 “Stationary microdroplets in a Hele-Shaw Cell: anchoring mechanism and flow field”
64th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Baltimore, MD, USA.
November 2010 “Anchors and rails: trapping and guiding drops in 2D”
“Flow field inside a stationary microdroplet in a Hele-Shaw cell”
63rd Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Long Beach, CA, USA.
June 2009 Gordon Research Conferences Nonlinear Science, South Hadley, MA, USA. (poster)
39th New England Complex Fluids Workshop, Cambridge, MA, USA. (soundbite)
November 2007 “Symmetry breaking: Swimming beneath free surfaces, Part 1”
60th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
August 2007 DTU Complex Motion in Fluids Summer School, Krogerup, Denmark.
November 2006 “Crawling underneath a free surface”
59th Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Tampa, FL, USA.
April 2006 UCLA IPAM Workshop II: Microfluidic Flows in Nature and Microfluidic Technologies, Los
Angeles, CA, USA. (poster)
 Sungyon Lee

Other Press
June 2008 How to walk on water, Nature News
(http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080626/full/news.2008.915.html)
October 2008 How snails walk on water is a small miracle, National Geographic News
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081020-snails-walking-water.html)
Honors & Awards

• Turbomachinery Research Consortium Grant

• Chateaubriand Post-doctoral Fellowship
• MIT representative for GE Global Research Technology and Innovation Day
• EU (Marie-Curie) Scholarship
• MIT Mechanical Engineering Service Award
• MIT Papalardo fellowship
Skills
Analysis Reduced modeling (lubrication, boundary layer), Complex variable analysis, Asymptotics
Experiment Fabrication of microfluidic channels (soft lithography technique), Flow visualization
Computer Matlab, Maple, Mathematica, LaTex, Surface Evolver, DaVis (PIV), ImageJ (image process-
ing), COMSOL
Language Conversational in French, Fluent in English and Korean