Brandon Hayes
- (He/him)
- Postdoctoral Scholar
Granular mechanics • Computational fluid dynamics • Microfluidics • Additive manufacturing
I am working on granular mechanics of environmental flows (e.g. sand dunes, snow avalanches) in the Granular Flow Laboratory led by Nathalie Vriend.
The focus of my PhD in CU Boulder's MACLab was on combining additive manufacturing with microfluidics as well as understanding and applications of thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps for microfluidics. In my free time, I can likely be found swimming, hiking, exploring, and biking around in the mountains near Boulder.
Research specialties and interests
- Dry and wet granular mechanics in environmental flows.
- Photoelastic analysis of force chains and stress propagation in granular media.
- Inkjet multi-material 3D printing of complex, highly-viscous fluids.
- Micro-actuation via flash boiling (thermal bubble-driven micro-pumps) for microfluidics, micro-robotics, and droplet ejection.
Education
- PhD (Mechanical Engineering): University of Colorado Boulder, 2024
- MS (Mechanical Engineering): University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
- BS (Biomedical Engineering): Rochester Institute of Technology, 2018
- BS (Microelectronics Engineering): Rochester Institute of Technology, 2018
Awards
- 1st Place at APS DFD Graduate Research Poster Competition for Best Poster (2023)
- 1st Place at ASME IMECE NSF-Sponsored Research Poster Competition for Best Poster (2023)
- Beverly-Sears Graduate Research Grant (2020)
- NSF GRFP Fellowship (2019)
- 1st Place at ASME IMECE Fluid Division's Young Engineer Paper Contest (2018)
- SULI Internship Program at Los Alamos National Labs (2018)
- Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award, RIT (2017)