2020 Excellence in Research Prize and Medal Recipient - Lou Kondic

Lou Kondic, a distinguished professor of applied mathematics, is an expert in complex fluid dynamics whose pioneering work in thin films, composed of materials ranging from liquid crystals to ferromagnetic fluids to liquid metals, is key to innovations in numerous technology-enhanced products, such as solar panels, industrial coatings and liquid crystal displays.

Kondic recently devised a new computational model, for example, that is capable of tracking how extreme heat impacts the evolution of thin metal films on thermally conductive solid substrates such as the silicon used in photovoltaic panels. His lab’s discovery of major thermal and fluid dynamic factors that drive the evolution of metal films, including alloys involving more than one metal, is designed to improve their radiation-absorbing properties. By directing the way nanoparticles arrange themselves on top of silicon, he aims to make panels both more efficient and cost-effective.

Also an expert in granular flows, Kondic’s interdisciplinary research into the dynamics of particulate systems in a range of conditions — vibrated, sheared and subject to impact — has produced novel insights with a potentially transformative impact on the study of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, landslides and meteor impacts, as well as industrial processes. They include the manufacture, handling, packaging and transport of granular products, ranging from dry powders to dense suspensions.

Kondic has recently collaborated with NJIT’s Boris Khusid, a professor of chemical and materials engineering, and researchers from NASA, New York University and Streamline Automation on space- bound studies at the International Space Station. Their experiments explore the fundamental science of colloids — microscopic “building blocks” particles for materials on Earth that are central to the composition of everything from milk and tea to household electronics and 3D printing technology.

His work has been supported by more than two dozen grants from diverse agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the Army Research Office, NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and resulted in more than one hundred well-cited papers in top journals such as Physical Review Letters, Europhysics Letters, Nanoletters, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physics of Fluids and the prestigious Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics.

Kondic has garnered numerous important honors and recognitions for his work. Named a Fulbright Fellow in 2006 to study thin film science in Argentina, he went on to receive the College of Science and Liberal Arts Excellence in Research Award in 2013 and the Leloir Award for International Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation from the Argentine Ministry of Science and Technology in 2017. That same year, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for advancing “understanding of complex fluid dynamics, from thin films to granular flows.”