Daisuke Takagi, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scientist and Adjunct Instructor

Email: dt55@nyu.edu
Phone: +1 (212) 998 3247

Applied Mathematics Lab Room 105
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
251 Mercer Street
New York, New York 10012, USA

Research

The motion of a broad range of materials, such as

• water containing many swimming organisms,
• food moving down the digestive system, and
• molten rock of lava spreading on volcanoes

can be predicted quantitatively by mathematical modeling. Simplified models are developed by formulating and solving mathematical problems using pen and paper. The models are verified by comparing with lab experiments. The predictions are useful for:

• developing particles to deliver drugs in the human body,
• understanding how the reproductive system functions,
• predicting the path and speed of avalanches,

and many other applications in biology, engineering, geophysics, and medicine. Past and current research interests include

• active suspensions,
• dense granular flows,
• fluid-structure interactions, and
• low Reynolds number hydrodynamics.

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Publications

1. Pouring viscous fluid out of a tipped container in minimal time
   Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2011)
   Physical Review E 84, 035303(R)


2. Shallow granular flows
   Takagi, D., McElwaine, J.N. and Huppert, H.E. (2011)
   Physical Review E 83, 031306


3. Peristaltic pumping of rigid objects in an elastic tube
   Takagi, D. and Balmforth, N.J. (2011)
   Journal of Fluid Mechanics 672, 219-244


4. Peristaltic pumping of viscous fluid in an elastic tube
   Takagi, D. and Balmforth, N.J. (2011)
   Journal of Fluid Mechanics 672, 196-218


5. Spreading of viscous fluids and granular materials on slopes
   Takagi, D. (2010)
   PhD thesis, University of Cambridge


6. Initial advance of long lava flows in open channels
   Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2010)
   Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 195, 121-126


7. Flow and instability of thin films on a cylinder and sphere
   Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2010)
   Journal of Fluid Mechanics 647, 221-238


8. Nonlinear peristaltic waves: a bitter pill to swallow
   Takagi, D. (2009)
   GFD Proceedings Volume of WHOI


9. Expanding volumes of channelized viscous gravity currents
   Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2008)
   Proceedings XXII ICTAM, Article 10874


10. Viscous gravity currents inside confining channels and fractures
    Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2008)
    Physics of Fluids 20(2), 023104


11. The effect of confining boundaries on viscous gravity currents
    Takagi, D. and Huppert, H.E. (2007)
    Journal of Fluid Mechanics 577, 495-505

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Teaching

Instructor, New York University

• 2011 Fall: Ordinary Differential Equations (co-teaching with Leslie Greengard)

Supervisor, University of Cambridge

• 2009 Lent: Part II Waves
• 2008 Michaelmas: Part II Fluid Dynamics
• 2008 Lent: Part IB Fluid Dynamics
• 2007 Michaelmas: Part IA Differential Equations

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Biography

Daisuke (pronounced /dajske/ ; born August 14, 1984) is a postdoctoral researcher at the New York University. His research on nanoparticles (2010-present) is advised by Mike Shelley and Jun Zhang at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in collaboration with Adam Braunschweig at the Molecular Design Institute in the Department of Chemistry.

Daisuke holds a PhD (applied mathematics), MMath, and MA from the University of Cambridge. He was awarded a Gates Scholarship and pursued his doctoral research (2007-2010) under the supervision of Herbert Huppert and Jim McElwaine in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. He was awarded a GFD Fellowship and worked with Neil Balmforth during the summer of 2009 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Daisuke grew up in Tokyo, Geneva, and some rural villages in Switzerland. He is originally from Osaka, Japan.

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Last updated on October 6, 2011.