Conrad Research Group

Anna McRobert, an REU participant from Rice University, presented her poster on bacterial fibers at the REU–RET poster session on July 9, 2013. Anna was mentored by Firoozeh Babaye Khorasani, a graduate student.

Liz Richter, an RET participant from DeBakey High School for Health Professions, presented her poster on bacterial fibers at the REU–RET poster session on July 9, 2013.

Marjorie Hernandez, an RET participant from Elsik High School, presented her poster on synthesizing colloids for confined flow experiments at the REU–RET poster session on July 20, 2012.

Dr. Conrad returned to KAUST to serve as the physics professor at the Saudi Research Science Institute, a summer research program for 40 rising high-school seniors held at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in June 2013.

Tahir Janoowala, an REU student from the University of Texas–Austin, presented his poster on nanoparticle dynamics at the REU–RET poster session on July 20th, 2012.

Firoozeh Babaye Khorasani, a first-year graduate student in our lab, described her work on nanoparticle transport in polymer solutions to visitors in the Summer Immersion Program in Petroleum Engineering during a lab tour on June 25, 2012. Firoozeh originally presented her poster at the Biophotonics Summer School at the University of Illinois.

Rahul Pandey, a second-year graduate student in our lab, described his work on confined flow of colloidal suspensions (published in Soft Matter) to visitors in the Summer Immersion Program in Petroleum Engineering during a lab tour on June 25, 2012.

In collaboration with Dr. Gila Stein and Dr. Megan Robertson, Dr. Conrad makes oobleck with students at the Chemical Engineering Lab at GRADE Camp, a program for women in grades 8–12 interested in engineering, on June 28, 2012.

Dr. Conrad delivered 5 one-hour lectures on Soft Matter Physics at the Saudi Research Science Institute, a summer research program for 40 rising high-school seniors held at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in June 2012. Lecture notes and links can be found here.

Dr. Conrad and her student Firoozeh Babaye Khorasani, along with colleagues Dr. Megan Robertson and Dr. Gila Stein, organized a materials station for the Mars Rover event on January 28, 2012. More photos of the materials station can be found here.

Participants in Materials Day, organized by Dr. Megan Robertson for AP Chemistry students from North Shore Senior High School on January 21, 2012. Dr. Conrad and colleagues Dr. Gila Stein and Dr. Jeffrey Rimer hosted lab tours and talked to students. More photos of Dr. Robertson's lab tour can be found here.

Kailee Fujimoto, an REU student from Villanova University, presents her conclusions on defect motion and colloidal crystal structure at the REU presentations on July 22, 2011.

Dr. Liz Richter (DeBakey High School for the Health Professions, Houston, TX) presents her poster, on developing an assay for bacterial viability using differential dynamic microscopy, at the RET poster session on July 15, 2011.

Dr. Conrad and two colleagues from ChBE (Dr. Gila Stein and Dr. Megan Robertson) organized a "Chemical Engineering Materials" stop on the UH Mars Rover tour on January 29, 2011. The tour, organized by NSM, introduced students to different aspects of science and engineering through hands-on demos.

Students learned about soft materials and suspensions by deforming cornstarch and silly putty, two prototypical complex fluids. These materials can exhibit both solid-like and liquid-like material properties: they can crack like solids, but also flow like liquids.

Dr. Conrad and students from KIPP Houston listen to Dr. Gila Stein explain her group’s work on polymeric processing. The stop in Dr. Stein’s lab was one of six lab tours organized by Dr. Jeffrey Rimer and Dr. Conrad in the Cullen College of Engineering at UH.

KIPP Houston high school students pose with Drs. Rimer and Conrad at the conclusion of a full day of tours in the departments of Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering at UH.

In collaboration with Dr. Gila Stein, Dr. Conrad talks about complex fluids with women attending GRADE Camp, a program for women in grades 8–12 interested in engineering. Lectures described three active research areas in the Chemical Engineering Department: materials, solar energy, and thermodynamics.

Dr. Conrad demonstrates the wacky properties of oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch in water that behaves as a Non-Newtonian fluid. Water is a Newtonian fluid and flows freely when you perturb it. Unlike water, how oobleck flows depends on how quickly you perturb it.

Oobleck is simple to make at home; simply mix a small amount of water with a larger amount of cornstarch. When enough cornstarch is added, the mixture stops behaving like an ordinary fluid under slow deformation. Instead, it behaves like a solid and can be sheared and cracked.

Silly Putty is a common example of a soft solid. When pulled apart quickly, it fractures like a hard solid; when pulled apart slowly, it stretches and deforms plastically.