Arnold MathijssenView profile
Assistant Professor
Arnold Mathijssen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, part of the School of Arts and Sciences. He leads the Mathijssen Lab, focusing on the physics of life, combining experimental and theoretical approaches in biophysics, fluid mechanics, and active materials. His research addresses fundamental questions about pathogen dynamics, biomedical material design, and collective behavior in living systems, with applications to public health and environmental science. Education includes a DPhil from the University of Oxford (2017), MSci and BSc from University College London (2012), and a teaching certificate from Stanford University (2019). He has held roles such as Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford (2017-2020) and Director of the Working Group on Environmental and Biological Fluid Dynamics (2023-). Research interests span topics like hydrodynamic communication, pathogen clearance in airways, and bacterial contamination dynamics. Notable achievements include the 2025 Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award and media recognition for breakthroughs in optimizing coffee-brewing physics. He chairs conferences, edits scientific journals, and advocates for science accessibility through initiatives like 'Kitchen flows.' Lab affiliations: Centre for Soft and Living Matter at UPenn, Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM). Media highlights include coverage in The New York Times, The Guardian, and New Scientist for his work on culinary fluid mechanics.








