Kai-tak Wan

About

Some of the research interests Dr. Wan specializes in are:

• Cellular biomechanics: Mechanical characterization and adhesion measurements of cancer cells, bacterial strains, drug delivery micro-capsules / liposomes, murine oocytes, biological tissues
• Water filtration: Adhesion, physisorption-chemisorption of pathogens to collector (sand) in the presence of intersurface forces and liquid flow through a porous medium
• Thin film adhesion and characterization: Mechanical reliability and lifespan of coated or encapsulated micro-/nano-devices, microelectronics parts, grapheme devices, photovoltaic panels, electrospun fiber meshes (armor protection fabrics), nano-structures
• Subsurface mechano-sensing: Mechanics of palpation to detect solid inclusion in soft tissues (e.g. breast cancer) in association with X-ray mammography, mechanical instability of lesion due to large elastic deformation and visco-rubber-elasticity
• Shell adhesion: Mechanical behavior and adhesion-detachment of natural (e.g. cornea) and artificial shells (e.g. contact lenses)
• Fundamental intersurface forces: Contact mechanics, adhesion mechanics, and colloidal science, fracture and delamination in the presence of long range surface forces and water meniscus, application in electronics and biomedical sciences

Selected Publications

• Lehotzky, Dávid, Sipahi, Rifat, Zupanc, Günther K.H. (2021). Cellular automata modeling suggests symmetric stem-cell division, cell death, and cell drift as key mechanisms driving adult spinal cord growth in teleost fish. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 509,110474. 10.1016/J.JTBI.2020.110474
• Lii-Rosales, Ann, Han, Yong, Jing, Dapeng, Tringides, Michael C., Julien, Scott, Wan, Kai-Tak, Wang, Cai-Zhuang, Lai, King C., Evans, James W., Thiel, Patricia A. (2021). Encapsulation of metal nanoparticles at the surface of a prototypical layered material. Nanoscale, 13(3),1485-1506. 10.1039/D0NR07024F
• Julien, Scott E., Kempe, Michael D., Eafanti, Joshua J., Morse, Joshua, Wang, Yu, Fairbrother, Andrew, Napoli, Sophie, Hauser, Adam W., Ji, Liang, O’Brien, Gregory S., Gu, Xiaohong, French, Roger H., Bruckman, Laura S., Wan, Kai-tak, Boyce, Kenneth P. (2020). Characterizing photovoltaic backsheet adhesion degradation using the wedge and single cantilever beam tests, Part I: Field Modules. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 215,110669. 10.1016/J.SOLMAT.2020.110669
• Julien, Scott E., Kempe, Michael D., Eafanti, Joshua J., Morse, Joshua, Wang, Yu, Fairbrother, Andrew W., Napoli, Sophie, Hauser, Adam W., Ji, Liang, O’Brien, Gregory S., Gu, Xiaohong, French, Roger H., Bruckman, Laura S., Wan, Kai-tak, Boyce, Kenneth P. (2020). Characterizing photovoltaic backsheet adhesion degradation using the wedge and single cantilever beam tests, Part II: Accelerated tests. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 211,110524. 10.1016/J.SOLMAT.2020.110524
• Lii-Rosales, Ann, Han, Yong, Julien, Scott E, Pierre-Louis, Olivier, Jing, Dapeng, Wan, Kai-Tak, Tringides, Michael C, Evans, James W, Thiel, Patricia A (2020). Shapes of Fe nanocrystals encapsulated at the graphite surface. New Journal of Physics, 22(2),023016. 10.1088/1367-2630/AB687A
• Liu, Shengchen, Wan, Kai-tak (2020). Path of a solid inclusion embedded in a soft matrix subject to finger palpation. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 203,151-156. 10.1016/J.IJSOLSTR.2020.07.017
• Lyu, Yadong, Fairbrother, Andrew, Gong, Mengyan, Kim, Jae Hyun, Gu, Xiaohong, Kempe, Michael, Julien, Scott, Wan, Kai-Tak, Napoli, Sophie, Hauser, Adam, O’Brien, Greg, Wang, Yu, French, Roger, Bruckman, Laura, Ji, Liang, Boyce, Kenneth (2020). Impact of environmental variables on the degradation of photovoltaic components and perspectives for the reliability assessment methodology. Solar Energy, 199,425-436. 10.1016/J.SOLENER.2020.02.020
• Sun, Jianfeng, Ran, Ran, Muftu, Sinan, Gu, April Z., Wan, Kai-Tak (2020). The mechanistic aspects of microbial transport in porous media. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 603,125169. 10.1016/J.COLSURFA.2020.125169
• S. Liu, K.-T. Wan, Path of a Solid Inclusion Embedded in a Soft Matrix Subject to Finger Palpation, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 2020
• J.Sun, R. Ran, S. Muftu, A.Z. Gu, K.-T. Wan, The Mechanistic Aspects of Microbial Transport in Porous Media, Coloids and Surfaces A, 603, 2020, 125169
• S. Liu, K.-T. Wan, A Preliminary Two-Dimensional Palpation Mechanics for Detecting a Hard Inclusion by Indentation of a Soft Matrix Under Large Strain, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 86, 2019, 051009
• S.E. Julien, A. Lii-Rosales, K.-T. Wan, Y. Han, M.C. Tringides, J.W. Evans, P.A. Thiel, Squeezed Nanocrystals: Equilibrium Configuration of Metal Clusters Embedded Beneath the Surface of a Layered Material, Nanoscale, 11, 2019, 6445
• J. Sun, S. Müftü, A.Z. Gu, K.-T. Wan, Intersurface Adhesion in the Presence of Capillary Condensation, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 85, 2018, 061009
• W. Wang, J.V. Gray, S.E. Julien, K.-T. Wan, Mechanical Characterization of a Convex Shell (Contact Lens) with Meridional Thickness Variation, Experimental Mechanics, 58(6), 2018, 997–1002

Faculty

Apr 27, 2022

ASEE-NE2022 Conference Awards

The ASEE-NE Chair and FYE/ECE Teaching Professor Bala Maheswaran led the ASEE Northeast 2022 Conference at Wentworth Institute of Technology from April 22 -23, 2022 which was resoundingly successful with extensive participation in the post-pandemic era. The Northeastern University students and faculty contributed their work at the conference (https://wit.edu/ASEENE2022), and won the following awards: Best […]

Faculty

Jul 12, 2021

MIE Research Selected as Editor’s Choice of Physics of Fluids

A research paper, titled “Flexural Bending Resonance of Acoustically Levitated Glycerol Droplet” by Zilong Fang, PhD’22, mechanical engineering, and MIE Professors Kai-Tak Wan and Mohammad Taslim was selected as the Editor’s Choice and published in the journal of Physics of Fluids.

Graduate

Apr 08, 2019

A New Model Can Predict the Shape of a Squeezed Nanocrystal When Blanketed Under Graphene

MIE PhD student Scott Julien, who works in Professor Kai-Tak Wan’s Micro/Nano Bio-Mechanical Characterization Lab, was featured in the Science Times article “A New Model Can Predict the Shape of a Squeezed Nanocrystal When Blanketed Under Graphene”.

Students

Jul 27, 2017

MIE PhD Students Invent New System to Analyze Water

MIE PhD students Jianfeng Sun, Ran Ran, and undergraduate student Derek Tran have created a new microscope analyzer to test water for contaminants quicker than conventional methods. More than 844 million people around the globe lack access to clean water. One of the challenges is that bacteria from rivers can flow into groundwater sources, polluting […]

Faculty

Jul 19, 2017

$350K NSF Grant to Explore Mechanics of Fusion

MIE Professors Kai-Tak Wan and Sinan Muftu were awarded a $350K NSF grant to explore the "Mechanics of fusion of dissimilar lipid bilayers and multi-lamellar vesicles". This is part of a collaborative research grant with Harvard University. Abstract Source: NSF Vesicles are small sacs surrounded by a lipid bilayer membrane and enclosing biomolecules essential for […]

Nov 01, 2016

Wan Awarded Patent for Equi-biaxial Membrane Stretcher

MIE Professor Kai-tak Wan was awarded a patent for his "Equi-biaxial membrane stretcher".

Nov 10, 2015

Printing SWCNT on 3D Patterned Surface

MIE Professor Kai-Tak Wan and Associate Professor Yung Joon Jung's research on "Printing Highly Controlled Suspended Carbon Nanotube Network on Micro-patterned Superhydrophobic Flexible Surface" was published in Scientific Reports.

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