Shelley Anna

Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering

Courtesy Appointment, Physics

Bio

Associate Professor Shelley Anna holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Courtesy appointment in the Department of Physics.  The objective of her research is to develop innovative, microscale experimental methods to probe and control liquid-fluid interfaces, using scaling analysis, theory, and numerics as tools to complement her experiments.  A main focus is to develop strategies to separate timescales for relevant processes, to advance the fundamental engineering science of multiphase flows.

Current research projects emphasize four main areas, which are collectively funded by the National Science Foundation, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, and Dow Corporation.  Past funding has come from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, and the Berkman Faculty Development Fund.

Education

B.S. Physics Carnegie Mellon University 1995
University and College Honors

M.S. Engineering Sciences Harvard University 1996

Ph.D. Engineering Sciences Harvard University 2000
Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship

Research

Our current research interests center on the following four areas.  More information about each of these is available at our Research Group Website.

A Microscale Approach to Analyzing Interfacial Transport and Mechanics

Surfactant-Mediated Interfacial Flows at the Microscale

Control of Mixing Driven by Coalescence of Sessile Drops

Organic Suspension Stability

Selected Publications

• N.J. Alvarez, L.M. Walker, and S.L. Anna, “A Microtensiometer to Probe the Effect of Radius of Curvature on Surfactant Transport to a Spherical Interface,” Langmuir, 26 (2010) 13310-13319.
• N.J. Alvarez, L.M. Walker, and S.L. Anna, “Diffusion-limited adsorption to a spherical geometry: The impact of curvature and competitive time scales,” Physical Review E, 82 (2010) 011604.
• W. Lee, L.M. Walker and S.L. Anna, “Role of Geometry and Fluid Properties in Droplet and Thread Formation Processes in Planar Flow Focusing,” Physics of Fluids 21 (2009) 032103.
• S. Shojaei-Zadeh, S.R. Swanson and S.L. Anna, “Highly Uniform Micro-Cavity Arrays in Flexible Elastomer Film,” Soft Matter, 2009, Soft Matter 5 (2009) 743-746.
• G.F. Christopher and S.L. Anna, “Microfluidic methods for generating continuous droplet streams,” Journal of Physics D – Applied Physics, 40 (2007) R319-R336.
• S.L. Anna and H.C. Mayer, “Microscale Tipstreaming in a Microfluidic Flow Focusing Device,” Physics of Fluids, 18 (2006) 121512.
• S.L. Anna, N. Bontoux, and H.A. Stone, “Formation of dispersions using ‘flow-focusing’ in microchannels,” Applied Physics Letters, 82 (2003) 364-366.
• S.L. Anna, G.H. McKinley, “Elasto-Capillary Thinning and Breakup of Model Elastic Liquids,” Journal of Rheology, 45 (2001) 115-138.
• S.L. Anna, G.H. McKinley, D.A. Nguyen, T. Sridhar, S.J. Muller, J. Huang, and D.F. James,  “An Inter-laboratory Comparison of Measurements from Filament-Stretching Rheometers Using Common Test Fluids,” Journal of Rheology, 45 (2001) 83-114.