Cyrus K. Aidun

Cyrus K. Aidun serves as a Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering within the College of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. His academic journey includes significant leadership roles, having joined Georgia Tech in 1988 as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology before becoming a full Professor in 2003 after serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Aidun's educational background includes a Ph.D. from Clarkson University (1985), M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1980), and B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1978). Prior to his current position, he held research positions at Battelle Research Laboratories, Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Associate, and the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Center at Cornell.

His research spans fluid mechanics, bioengineering, renewable bioproducts, and industrial decarbonization, with particular emphasis on cellular blood flow dynamics and applications to cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Aidun pioneered the Lattice-Boltzmann method for suspension hydrodynamics, enabling advanced computational analysis of deformable particle/fiber suspensions. His work bridges fundamental physics with engineering applications, including blood cell transport interactions with glycoproteins, platelet margination, thrombus formation, and plant somatic embryogenesis for clonal propagation.

His recent publications demonstrate strong focus on computational hemodynamics, particularly blood flow in cardiovascular systems and mechanical heart valves, with emerging work on industrial decarbonization through process modifications. This research portfolio shows consistent evolution from fundamental fluid dynamics to targeted biomedical and industrial applications.

Dr. Aidun has received significant recognition including:

• National Science Foundation Presidential Investigator award
• Gunnar Nicholson Fellowship
• International Society of Coating Science and Technology's L. E. Scriven award

His research is supported by major funding from the Department of Energy and industrial collaborators, particularly for decarbonization projects. Dr. Aidun holds multiple patents related to plant propagule devices and somatic embryo processing, demonstrating translational impact from his research. His laboratory focuses on developing novel computational methods for direct numerical simulation of suspension hydrodynamics, biotransport, and whole blood flow, with applications spanning cardiovascular medicine and renewable bioproducts engineering.