Mathematical Biology Seminar Justin Kao Northwestern University Friday Jan. 18, 2008 3:05pm in LCB 225 "Resonant rupture of thin films and particle capture by freezing fronts" Abstract: Many interesting phenomena fall under the broad category of interfacial fluid mechanics. For example, the behavior of thin liquid films on solid substrates is important to many industrial processes, such as optical coatings and semiconductor fabrication. When the solid substrate has patterning or heterogeneities, the steady states of the film undergo an imperfect bifurcation that can drastically alter the film dynamics. I will describe asymptotic and numerical results for this system. Another system of practial importance is the interaction of a freezing front with a solid foreign particle, as occurs in materials processing and cryopreservation of cells. Depending on material properties and the freezing rate, a particle may be pushed ahead of the front or it may be captured and incorporated into the solid. I will describe modeling and boundary integral simulations of this system, to determine the threshold front velocity required to capture the particle.