Karen E. Daniels

Associate Professor Specializes in Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics Click here to view Karen E Daniels' research group site

Contact Information Physics Department NC State University Box 8202 Raleigh, NC 27695 Work Address: 258C Riddick Hall Phone: (919) 513-7921 Fax: (919) 515-6538 Education A.B. Dartmouth College, 1994 Ph.D. Cornell University, 2002 Postdoc Duke University, 2002-2005

Areas of Interest Most physical systems are not in equilibrium, but rather are subject to driving and/or dissipation. Far from equilibrium, where nonlinear effects become important, these systems display a rich array of complex behaviors. Systems can be dynamic, chaotic, or turbulent, and more remarkably can produce static patterns or exhibit persistent dynamics while remaining statistically stationary. Although there is typically no free-energy-like functional to minimize in a nonequilibrium system, quantities analogous to those used in equilibrium statistical mechanics can often elucidate the mean behavior. Recent experiments address: -- pattern formation and spatiotemporal chaos in fluid convection -- the statistical mechanics of granular materials -- morphological instabilities in complex fluids -- laboratory models of geophysical processes (earthquakes and meteor impacts) Recent Publications James G. Puckett and Karen E. Daniels. Equilibrating temperaturelike variables in jammed granular subsystems [Link] [APS Synopsis] Physical Review Letters 110: 058001 (2013) Eli T. Owens and Karen E. Daniels. Acoustic measurement of a granular density of modes Soft Matter 9:1214 (2013) [Link] Carlos P. Ortiz, Robert Riehn, and Karen E. Daniels. Flow-Driven Formation of Solid-like Microsphere Heaps. Soft Matter, 9 (2), 543 - 549, 2013 [Link] Kiri Nichol and Karen E. Daniels. Equipartition of rotational and translational energy in a dense granular gas. Physical Review Letters 108, 018001 (2012) [Link] Nicholas W. Hayman, Lucie Ducloue, Kate L. Foco, Karen E. Daniels. Granular controls on periodicity of stick-slip events: kinematics and force-chains in an experimental fault. Pure and Applied Geophysics 168: 2239-2257 (2011) [Link] Melissa L. Fender, Frederic Lechenault, Karen E. Daniels. Universal shapes formed by two interacting cracks. Physical Review Letters 105: 125505 (2010). [Link] David W. Fallest, Adele M. Lichtenberger, Christopher J. Fox, and Karen E. Daniels. Fluorescent visualization of a spreading surfactant. New Journal of Physics 12: 073029 (2010). [Link] Sally E. Thompson and Karen E. Daniels. A Porous Convection Model for Small-Scale Grass Patterns. The American Naturalist. 175: E10-E15 (2010) [Link]