Welcome
The Hrenya Research Group studies the flow behavior of particulate matter in a variety of systems. This site contains information about several aspects of our work here at the University of Colorado. Please feel free to contact us if you would like further information on these activities.
Recent Group News...
Dr. Jia Chew was recently named the 2013 recipient of the AIChE George Klinzing Best Ph.D. in Particle Technology Award. Congratulations, Jia, on a well-deserved honor!
Prof. Christine Hrenya was recently appointed as an Editor of Aerosol Science and Technology. She was also named a recipient of this year's Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award, which is bestowed to four faculty at the University each year. She is also leading two new research awards: a $1.5M industry-sponsored grant for multiphase flows involving cohesive particles and a $450K grant under DOE's SunShot Initiative for research on concentrating solar power plants.
Ph.D. candidate Peter Mitrano gave a keynote talk at the 2013 Fluidization XIV in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. Fellow researchers (left to right) Simon Maurer (Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland), Claudia Cadile (Polytech Marseille, France), Jean Saayman (University of Pretoria, South Africa), David Valdesueiro (TU Delft, The Netherlands), Frederic Topin (Polytech Marseille, France), Peter Mitrano.
Ph.D. candidate Peter Mitrano spent Fall 2012 in Spain, where he spent two months at the Universidad de Extremadura with our collaborator Prof. Vicente Garzó of the Physics Department. Peter and Vicente worked on the prediction of instabilities in multiphase flows, which is part of a larger collaboration with the Prof. Xiaolong Yin at the Colorado School of Mines.
Ph.D. Candidate Kyle Berger spent Summer 2012 at Kennedy Space Center as part of his NASA fellowship. He worked with Dr. Phil Metzger on predicting lunar soil ejection when spacecraft land. Kyle also coordinated brainstorming sessions among interns on solar system civilization and volunteered for the week-long Lunabotics Challenge, in which undergraduate teams design robots for lunar soil excavation and transport.
Recent graduate Carly Donahue had her Ph.D. research on agglomeration among wetted solids highlighted in the journal Nature. As part of this work, Carly put a unique spin on a common desktop toy, the Newton’s cradle, by immersing it in liquid before pulling on the pendulum. The results were not what was expected based on our experience with the toy, but a careful theoretical analysis helped to tease out the important physics. Carly is now performing post-doctoral research at CalTech.
For additional group photos, see Photo Album of the Hrenya Research Group
For information on upcoming conferences and recent publications, see News Page