Meet Our Graduate Students
Meet Mike Van Der Naald
Short bio:
I’m from Oregon originally and went to the University of Oregon where I studied Math and Physics. Scientifically I love out of equilibrium physics, pattern formation, and more recently cell biology. Outside of physics I love to cook, converse with friends and family, and go on walks.
What was the focus of your research and who did you work with?
I studied the phase behavior of dense suspensions with Professor Heinrich Jaeger. The prototypical example is cornstarch suspensions, also known as “Oobleck”, but they are ubiquitous materials: paints, industrial slurries, mud, to name a few.
Absolutely! I once spent most of a week thinking about how trampolines, in particular the phenomena known as “double bouncing”, works. If you aren’t familiar with this, you should look it up on Youtube. It is really incredible! It was super fun, exhilarating, and at times funny to build a model of how this process works. Working on seemingly “pedestrian” sounding physics questions that are actually deeply complex is what originally brought me to physics in my undergraduate, to the University of Chicago for my PhD, and is still what motivates me in science today.
I study cell biology, in particular neuronal metabolism, in the group of Professor Daniel Needleman at Harvard University.
In my scientific life, I co-discovered that dense suspensions can contain transiently rigid objects in them that continually form and fail. In my personal life, I met my now fiance and many friends who I still keep in touch with.
The interdisciplinarity of the research, particularly at the James Franck Institute. I always attended Tom Witten’s bag lunch talks when I could, and learned so much about so many different facets of physics.
I found a community in the Graduate Student Union which was really lovely. Learning how to be in solidarity with folks across the community and campus was something that really supported me throughout my PhD. I also spent most nights hanging out at the Hyde Park LA fitness sauna which was awesome.
What advice would you give to future PhD students?
I think the most important thing during your PhD is to find some portion of the process of discovery fun. Ultimately a PhD is long and difficult and I found having fun throughout the process really important.