On Friday Sept. 13th, Prof. Daisuke Takagi (U. Hawai`i) will give a colloquium titled “Capturing stealthy swimmers and other adventures in fluid dynamics.” It will be held at 3:30pm in 401 Keller Hall.

Fluid dynamics is a branch of applied mathematics concerned with fluids in motion. When a solid body propels itself through fluids the resultant motion is generally difficult to predict. Laboratory experiments reveal how microscopic particles can stealthily swim on surfaces, slide along walls, and slalom through obstacles. These observations are explained using a simple model that accounts for the fluid flow around each swimmer. I will discuss some broader implications of this work and possible directions for future research.