Prize Recipient

Eric Vandre
University of Minnesota

"Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement."

Eric Vandre received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2008. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the George W. Taylor Foundation scholarship for 4-year full support, and he researched hydrodynamic dispersion with his undergraduate adviser, Prof. H. Ted Davis. Eric’s graduate education continued at the University of Minnesota where he received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2013. Under the guidance of Prof. Satish Kumar and Prof. Marcio Carvalho, Eric conducted experimental, theoretical, and numerical research for his thesis work “Onset of Dynamic Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement.”  Eric currently works on coating technology as a Senior Research Engineer at 3M Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. In this role, he investigates a variety of multi-phase phenomena (including contact line behavior, multilayer flow instabilities, and particulate-laden flows) in order to improve process understanding for precision coating techniques and enable technology scale-up from pilot to manufacturing settings.