"For his intellectual leadership in fluid dynamics and in particular for his seminal contributions to electrohydrodynamics and droplet splashing."
Background:Undergraduate: 1990, University of Pennsylvania, B.A. in Physics & Math
PhD: 1994, University of Chicago, Physics
1995: L.E. Dickson Instructor in Mathematics, University of Chicago
1995-2001. Assistant &Associate Prof of Applied Mathematics, MIT
2001-present, Professor, Harvard University. Currently Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics & Harvard College Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
My research uses mathematical models to examine a wide variety of problems in science and engineering, ranging from understanding the shapes of bird beaks, whale flippers and fungal spores, to finding the principles for designing materials that can assemble themselves, to answering ordinary questions about daily life, such as why a droplet of fluid splashes when it collides with a solid surface.
Awards: Simons Investigator (2012); Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship (2011-12); George Ledlie Prize, Harvard University, 2011; Fellow, American Physical Society (2004); Guggenheim Fellowship (2004); Francois Frenkiel Award of the American Physical Society (2000)