
Research Interests
Energy & Environment, Multiphase Flows, Granular Physics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Multiscale ModelingChris Boyce examines the fundamentals of multiphase flows to spark advances in energy, health, and the environment. He uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational modeling to gain insights into complex systems. Boyce teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in fluid mechanics.
Boyce discovers and characterizes instabilities and other flow anomalies existing in multiphase granular flows and analyzes how they couple with chemical reactions. He develops and utilizes MRI and computational techniques to study these flows and seeks to be a leader in the exploitation of MRI capabilities to provide insights into engineering systems by truly seeing inside of them. The fundamental physics insights from Boyce’s research are relevant to understanding geological flows surrounding volcanos and earthquakes as well as developing new technologies in the energy, pharmaceuticals, mining, and filtration industries. Because of the many length scales, applications, techniques, and areas of science involved in Boyce’s work, he collaborates with a variety of engineers, physicists, chemists, and geologists. In the long term, Boyce aims to transfer insights and techniques from his work into areas more directly relevant to physiology and human health.
Boyce received a BS in chemical engineering and physics from MIT in 2011. He studied as a Gates Cambridge Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD in 2015 and won the Danckwerts-Pergamon Prize for the best PhD thesis in chemical engineering. He held postdoctoral positions at Princeton University and ETH Zurich before joining the faculty of Columbia Engineering in 2018.
Research Experience
- Postdoctoral researcher, ETH Zurich, 2017
- Postdoctoral researcher, Princeton University, 2015-2016
Professional Experience
- Assistant professor of chemical engineering, Columbia University, 2018-
Professional Affiliations
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Honors & Awards
- Danckwerts-Pergamon Prize for the best PhD thesis related to chemical engineering, University of Cambridge, 2015
- Gates Cambridge Scholar, 2011-2014
Selected Publications
- McLaren, C. P.; Kovar, T. M.; Penn, A.; Müller, C. R.; Boyce, C. M. Gravitational Instabilities in Binary Granular Materials. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2019, 201820820. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/19/9263
- Padash, A.; Boyce, C. M. Collapse of a Bubble Injected Side-by-Side with Another Bubble into an Incipiently Fluidized Bed: A CFD-DEM Study. Phys. Rev. Fluids 2020, 5 (3), 034304. https://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.034304
- Penn, A.; Tsuji, T.; Brunner, D. O.; Boyce, C. M.; Pruessmann, K. P.; Müller, C. R. Real-Time Probing of Granular Dynamics with Magnetic Resonance. Science Advances 2017, 3 (9), e1701879. http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1701879
- Boyce, C. M.; Ozel, A.; Kolehmainen, J.; Sundaresan, S.; McKnight, C. A.; Wormsbecker, M. Growth and Breakup of a Wet Agglomerate in a Dry Gas–solid Fluidized Bed. AIChE J. 2017, 63 (7), 2520–2527. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.15761/full
- Boyce, C. M.; Rice, N. P.; Ozel, A.; Davidson, J. F.; Sederman, A. J.; Gladden, L. F.; Sundaresan, S.; Dennis, J. S.; Holland, D. J. Magnetic Resonance Characterization of Coupled Gas and Particle Dynamics in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed. Phys. Rev. Fluids 2016, 1 (7), 74201. http://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.1.074201
- Boyce, C. M.; Ozel, A.; Sundaresan, S. Intrusion of a Liquid Droplet into a Powder under Gravity. Langmuir 2016, 32 (34), 8631. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02417
- Kolehmainen, J.; Ozel, A.; Boyce, C. M.; Sundaresan, S. A Hybrid Approach to Computing Electrostatic Forces in Fluidized Beds of Charged Particles. AIChE J. 2016, 62 (7), 2282. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.15279/full
- Boyce, C. M.; Rice, N. P.; Sederman, A. J.; Dennis, J. S.; Holland, D. J. 11-Interval PFG Pulse Sequence for Improved Measurement of Fast Velocities of Fluids with High Diffusivity in Systems with Short T2∗. J. Magn. Reson. 2016, 265, 67. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090780716000793
- Boyce, C. M.; Davidson, J. F.; Holland, D. J.; Scott, S. A.; Dennis, J. S. The Origin of Pressure Oscillations in Slugging Fluidized Beds: Comparison of Experimental Results from Magnetic Resonance Imaging with a Discrete Element Model. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2014, 116, 611. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000925091400267X
- Boyce, C. M.; Holland, D. J.; Scott, S. A.; Dennis, J. S. Adapting Data Processing To Compare Model and Experiment Accurately: A Discrete Element Model and Magnetic Resonance Measurements of a 3D Cylindrical Fluidized Bed. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2013, 52 (50), 18085. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie401896x