NIRT: Bio-inspired Actuating Structures

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Abstract 0507151Biology has remarkable solutions to engineering problems. In the context of fluid flows, organisms widely adopt the strategy of beating cilia for self-propulsion and to move fluids for particulate transport and feeding. For the engineering of integrated biochemical devices, solutions are needed for performing fluidic operations such as propulsion, mixing and separation. The investigators will pursue the creation and actuation of sheets of nanorods that serve as synthetic ciliated surfaces, and study their properties with a focus on fluid dynamics and applications in microfluidics. They will develop materials and processing to create controlled patterning of actuating cilia in sheets and within microfluidic systems. They will study the fluid dynamics generated by nanorods through a combination of sophisticated fluid modeling and nanoscale tracking of fluid motion. This project will develop both a new understanding of how biology moves fluids and how, in turn, we can engineer such structures for new compact analytical and medical technology applications. This program will create an educational microscopy and nanotechnology open lab that will allow middle and high school teachers remote access to the AFM to explore biological samples such as cilia and to explore magnetoelastomer compounds for engineered structures.