Team Members
The collective dynamics lab has supported DKU undergraduates’ scholarly development since 2019, echoing the research and practice animating principle and interdisciplinary character of DKU. CDL Alumni received PhD offers from Duke, Yale, UChicago, Uni Michigan – Ann Arbor, Northwestern, UT Austin, UT Southwestern Medical Center, etc., as well as numerous offers to continue their studies as master students in the U.S. and the E.U. We welcome DKU students interested in materials science physics, biophysics, soft matter physics, applied math and computer science with basic training (i.e., 100 level math, phys, computer science, stats courses) to join through internal channels (student worker, independent study, SRS, SELF, Signature Work). Moreover, CDL may also have openings for PhD students, interns, postdoc, etc. Please check News page for opportunities or email the PI directly with a short Letter of Intent and your CV.
Sand grains from all around the world
and glass, metal, plastic, styrofoam, and 3D printed particles.
Ethan Mills (Class 2025)
2023 – 2025, SRS, Signature Work
Projects: Active Jamming, “Molecular Motion; A Unified Approach to Kinesin Molecular Dynamics”
Soham Dorle (Class 2025)
2023 – 2025, SRS, Signature Work
Projects: Active Jamming, “Investigating root growth in granular media with X-ray computed tomography”
Runze Liu (Class 2025)
2023 – 2025, Signature Work (jointly supervised with Prof. Ming-Chun Huang from Computer Science)
Projects: “Smart DKU: AQI sensor development for DKU Gym”
Chen Xi (M. Eng.)
2022 – present, (part time) Lab Manager of CDL
Projects: “Smart DKU”
Dr. Tivadar Pongo
2022 – present, (part time) Research Scientist of CDL
Projects: Role of gravity on granular drag, Active Jamming
Dr. habil. Matthias Schroeter
2023 – present, (part time) Visiting Professor of DKU
Projects: Granular Drag, Active Jamming, Reservior computing
Alumni
Simeon Völkel
2013 – 2016, Bachelor & Master Thesis, Experimentalphysik V, Uni Bayreuth, Germany
2016 – 2021, PhD Thesis (Note: Sehr Gut), Experimentalphysik V, Uni Bayreuth, Germany
Projects: Targeted wetting, patchy granular matter
Valentin Dichtl
2018 – 2020, Master Thesis, Experimentalphysik V, Uni Bayreuth
Projects: Granular drag
Huyue Yan (Class 2022)
2020 – 2022, undergraduate student worker
Projects: Wet particle impact
(Currently MSc. student at Uni Tuebingen)
Jinchen (Felix) Zhao (Class 2023)
2020 – 2022, undergraduate student worker
Projects: Granular drag, targeted wetting
(Currently PhD student of Applied Physics at Yale)
Chen (Oscar) Lv (Class 2023)
2020 – 2023, undergraduate student worker
Projects: Wet particle impact, targeted wetting
(Currently MEng. student at Duke Pratt)
Zeying Huang, Xiaonan Wang, Junyi Liu (Class 2022)
2021 – 2022, Signature Work (Team based: ECON + DS)
Projects: Product Lifecycle Management (highlight)
(Currently master students at Duke Pratt and Duke Fuqua)
Haibei Zhang (Class 2022)
2021 – 2022, Signature Work (biophysics)
Projects: “Decipher freshwater algal growth dynamics with microfluidic cultivation experiments” (highlight, her story in Chinese)
(Currently PhD students at Uni Chicago)
Runya Liu (Class 2022)
2021 – 2022, Signature Work (applied math and computation)
Projects: “Robot Hand and Object Recognition”
(Currently MEng students at Duke Pratt)
Shunyu Yan (Class 2023)
2022 – 2023, Signature Work (biophysics, jointly supervised with David Huang from Medical Physics Program)
Projects: “Positioning Uncertainty and Dose Variation Analysis Based on Cone-beam CT Imaging During Image Guided Radiotherapy”
(Currently PhD student at UT Southwestern Medical Center)
Zhiyun (David) Lu (Class 2024)
2021 – 2024, Student Worker, SRS, Signature Work (data science)
Projects: “Smart DKU – Development of a sensor network for monitoring DKU gym activities”
( MEng. student at Duke Pratt)
