Mechanical engineering doctorate student Siyu Chen, working under the direction of Dr. Qianhong Wu at Villanova University, has received a $1,000 scholarship. Chen’s research is focused on mimicking lubrication in soft, porous biological systems, which he studies by using novel experimental platforms that resemble biological structures to observe various tribological interfaces. Of specific interest is the near frictionless movement of red blood cells over the endothelial glycocalyx layer, which lines the inner surface of blood vessels. Chen has achieved significant milestones in this work, including 1.) working with materials scientists to develop a novel platform for nanoparticle deposition onto these substrates and 2.) using machine learning to analyze the nanoparticle deposition during a dip-coating experiment. He is now applying these processes and systems to the development of a super lubrication platform.
In a little over a year, Chen has already co-authored two papers that will be submitted shortly to top scientific journals in the field. He has a third paper in preparation and has two conference papers that have been presented at the American Physical Society Annual Meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics and at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE).