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Sandip Ghosal
Associate Professor

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Northwestern University
2145 Sheridan Road, Rm. M312
Evanston, IL 60208-3111, USA

TEL: 847-467-5990
FAX: 847-491-3915

s-ghosal@northwestern.edu

link to research site

B.Sc., Physics, Presidency College, Calcutta, India(1985)
Ph.D., Physics, Columbia University(1992)

Honors and Awards

  • NASA ASEE Faculty Fellowship
  • Fellow, Searle Center for Teaching Excellence, Northwestern University
  • CTR Summer research fellow, Stanford University
  • GFD fellow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  • Fellow of the faculty (Physics), Columbia University
  • J. Bose National Science Talent Search Award, India

Research: Fluid Mechanics - Micro scale flows near charged interfaces

Professor Ghosal studies phenomena connected with the motion of fluids in the vicinity of electrically charged interfaces. Matter is electrically neutral on macroscopic scales, but interfaces of materials are almost always charged. We are reminded of this in small ways in our daily lives; for example a nylon comb or a plastic ruler will attract bits of paper and deflect a narrow stream from a faucet if you first rub it on your clothes or hair. These interfacial forces being proportional to the surface area are however often dwarfed by volume forces such as gravity. The situation changes dramatically on very small scales (roughly a 100 micron or less). At an interface of a solid and liquid, these electrical forces can drive a significant flow. Such micro-scale flows have important applications in recently developed and rapidly evolving technologies such as microfluidics and nanotechnology. They are also at the heart of biological processes; for example, the condensation of DNA on nucleosomes, the transport of protein precursors across intracellular membranes etc. can be studied as the mechanics of charged elastic rods (biopolymers) in a viscous fluid (water).

In the classroom

Professor Ghosal has taught Fluid Mechanics and various topics in Engineering Mathematics for graduate and undergraduate students.

Selected Publications

Ghosal, S. "Lubrication theory for electroosmotic flow in a microfluidic channel of slowly varying cross-section and wall charge," J. Fluid Mech. (2002) 459, 103-128

Ghosal, S. "Effect of analyte adsorption on the electroosmotic flow through microfluidic channels," Analytical Chemistry (2002) 74, 771-775

Ghosal, S. "The effect of wall interactions in capillary zone electrophoresis" J. Fluid Mech. (2003) 491, 285-300

Ghosal, S. "Electrokinetic Flow & Dispersion in Capillary Electrophoresis" Ann, Rev. Fluid Mech. (2006), 38, 309-338 [ Invited Review ]

Ghosal, S. "Electrophoresis of a polyelectrolyte through a nanopore" Phys. Rev. E(2006), 74, 041901-01 to -05