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Research Interests

Flow physics, physiological and biomedical flows, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular phenomena, computational fluid and solid mechanics, quantitative image processing

Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee's inter-disciplinary research group is broadly interested in unraveling the fundamental behavior of complex flow and transport phenomena. Specifically, his research program focuses on understanding the flow, transport, and mechanical underpinnings of physiological processes and on leveraging this understanding to develop tools for disease biomechanics, medical device design, treatment planning, and drug delivery. A primary application area is in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular processes in healthy and diseased states, where the group conducts targeted investigations on diseases like stroke, thrombosis, and embolisms. The tools and technologies developed also have applications broadly in other physiological and disease phenomena. Finally, at a more fundamental level, they are interested in various theoretical and numerical aspects of flow physics, particularly involving particle-based and particle-laden flows, with cross-cutting applications in biomedical and advanced manufacturing systems.

Societal Impact

Flow physics and mechanical forces play a key underlying role in a variety of diseases. Our research aims to establish an improved understanding of this connection. This not only provides deeper insights into the disease itself, but also enables significant improvements in treatment and patient care. This is particularly impactful when we consider cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke, which constitute the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, affecting millions of individuals and their families every year. Key improvements in treatment planning, and design and deployment of medical devices, can substantially affect patient health and treatment outcomes – an aspect that comprises the core motivation of our research. In addition to these contributions, as a group, we are passionate about educating future engineers from a diverse set of backgrounds to tackle challenging problems requiring multi-disciplinary approaches.

Select Publications

• Mukherjee, D., Jani, N.D., Narvid, J., and Shadden, S.C. (2018). Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 46(8):1128-1145. [paper selected as journal cover feature for August 2018 issue of Annals of Biomedical Engineering]
• Mukherjee, D., and Shadden, S.C. (2018). Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. 17(3):645-663.
• Mukherjee, D., and Shadden, S.C. (2017). Journal of Biomechanics. 52(8):155-164.
• Mukherjee, D., Padilla, J., and Shadden, S.C. (2016). Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics. 30(1):23-39.
• Mukherjee, D., and Zohdi, T.I. (2015). Journal of Computational Physics. 290:298-317.

Select Awards

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Trailblazer Award for new and early career investigators, 2020
• Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2020
• Best poster award: 5th International Conference on Engineering Frontiers in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (3rd place in Young Investigator Competition), 2016
• American Heart Association Post-doctoral Fellowship Award, 2015
• Best poster award: Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International Oilfield Corrosion Conference and Exhibition, 2014
• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award – for contributions to graduate introduction to finite element analysis course, 2011
• Best paper award: 29th International Conference on Ocean and Offshore, and Arctic Engineering, 2010