People: Lydia Bourouiba

Bio

Prof. Lydia Bourouiba is Full Professor at MIT, where she holds the Japan Steel Industry Professorship, directs the Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory, and co-leads the Fluids and Health Network. Prof. Bourouiba received her PhD from McGill University, working on wave-turbulence in geophysical flows. A physical applied mathematician by training, her research interests span a broad range of fundamental to applied curiosity-driven questions in fluid physics/dynamics, biophysics and mathematical modeling. They typically involve fluid physics across scales from turbulence, interfacial, and complex biofluids, to phase change/transition, soft matter, and porous media, and how these phenomena interact with chemical and biological mechanisms to shape emergence, transport,  and adaptation of microorganisms in human, animal, and plant populations, or life itself.  A key signature of her scientific approach is the iterative co-development of experimental methods and theory/numerics. Her recent work focused on the multi-scale dynamics of unsteady fluid fragmentation, splash and atomization, drops and bubbles, and phase transitions relevant to addressing important industrial, energy, food, environmental, contamination, and health challenges.   Prof. Bourouiba's mentoring and scholarship have been recognized by a range of communities through scientific awards, including the Ole Madsen Mentoring Award, the Tse Cheuk Ng Tai’s Prize for Innovative Research in Health Sciences, the Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award for high-risk/high-reward basic science research, the MathWorks Faculty Research Innovation Fellowship, and the G.K. Batchelor Lectureship at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), University of Cambridge. She is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (2021) and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in (2022).
More on the Fluids and Health Network and our team and goals: HERE and HERE
Learn more here on bio and background HERE.

Focusing on the interface of fluid and bio physics, our Fluids and Health Network (FHN) aims to elucidate the fundamental physical mechanisms with important applications in health and the environment, including water, food, and energy, in addition to the biophysics of transmission and control of pathogens in human, animal, and plant populations where drops, bubbles, multiphase biophysical process are at the core.

Research Interests 

Key topics of research in the Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory, in the Fluids and Health Network, include:

Fluid and Bio-Physics:

- Biophysics, complex and soft matter
- Interfacial flows: bubbles, drops and films
- Turbulence and multiphase flows
- Mixing, transport, and pathogen deposition and contamination
- Hydrodynamic instabilities, waves, fragmentation , and droplet formation and control
- Viscoelastic and biological fluids 

Health and Environment:

- Physiology
- Infectious diseases
- Extreme environments and adaptation
- Environmental contamination and transport, air-water coupling and water, food, and energy nexus
- Healthcare and indoor environments

We use a combination of theoretical  (applied mathematics, including differential equations, linear algebra, nonlinear dynamics, waves and stability) and experimental approaches (flow visualization, high speed imaging techniques, microscopy, image processing) to elucidate the fundamental physical mechanisms in the various domains of translation pertaining to health, food, water, and energy.

FHN:

Note that our FHN website is currently under re-development and is not currently up to date, whereas this page is. 

Contact us at "FHN dot admin at mit dot edu" for inquiry about openings in our Fluids and Health Network for Staff, Postdoc, Graduate Researcher, and Intern positions, adding in the subject line [Inquiry about opening in the Fluids and Health Network] and with bgadmin [at] mit.edu in CC.

Selected Awards/Societies

More than 165 invited talks, including plenary, keynote, distinguished or named lectures delivered nationally or internationally, including at various national academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine (e.g., US, France, Netherlands). 

Selected, Awards, Prizes, Invited Distinguished Lectures or Fellowships:

• 2025, MathWorks Faculty Research Innovation Fellow Award, in recognition of mid-career faculty for outstanding research and leadership.
• 2025, Japan Steel Industry Provost Chair Professorship, MIT
• 2025, Distinguished Lecturer, Imperial College London, UK
• 2024, Sectional Keynote Lecturer, 26th International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM), Korea
• 2023, G.K. Batchelor Lecturer, DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2023, Paul Gray Award for Public Service: For impact on the field of public health, specifically Prof. Bourouiba's contributions in mitigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on society
• 2022, Elected American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow: For groundbreaking contributions to our fundamental understanding of unsteady fluid fragmentation and its application to the spread of contagious diseases. 

• 2022, Keynote Speaker, 14th European Fluid Mechanics Conference, Greece
• 2022, Plenary Speaker, 11th International Aerosol Conference, Greece
• 2022, Distinguished Speaker, Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (ADOCR)
• 2022, David Reinhoudt Lecture Award, Twente University, The Netherlands
• 2022, Keynote, Phyllosphere, 11th International Symposium on Leaf Surface Microbiology 
• 2022, Plenary Speaker, Physics@Veldhoven, The Netherlands 
• 2021, Elected American Physical Society (APS) Fellow: For fundamental work in quantitatively elucidating the mechanisms of droplet impact and fragmentation, and for pioneering a new field at the intersection of fluid dynamics and transmission of respiratory and foodborne pathogens, with clear and tangible contributions to public health.
• 2021, Senior Fellowship, Collegium Helveticum Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland 
• 2021, Plenary Speaker, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) - Annual Meeting
• 2021, Keynote Speaker, Micro and Nano Flows, UK
• 2021, Plenary Speaker, Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering Congress, Canada 
• 2020, Plenary Lecture, American Physical Society - Division of Fluid Dynamics 
• 2019, Sears Lecture, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  
• 2019, Ole Madsen Mentoring Award, in recognition of conspicuous contributions to inspiring, mentoring, and educating students, MIT
• 2018, Shimizu Professorship, Stanford University
• 2018, Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award, for creative and innovative junior investigators working on high impact ideas to generate breakthroughs and drive new directions in biomedical research.
• 2017, Foundation Aix-Marseille University, Professeur Invité Award, Institute of Research on Non-Equilibrium Dynamics (IRPHE), France 
• 2015, Esther & Harold Edgerton Career Development Chair Professorship, MIT
   
• 2014, Tse Cheuk Ng Tai’s Prize for Innovative Research in Health Sciences
• 2011, Sigma XI Full Membership award