Michael D Graham

Michael D. Graham is a Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with affiliations in the College of Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He holds distinguished professorships including the Steenbock Professor of Engineering and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship. Graham earned a PhD from Cornell University (1992) and a BS from the University of Dayton (1986).

His research focuses on fluid dynamics, rheology, and transport phenomena across microscale and turbulent flows. Key areas include microorganism locomotion, blood flow dynamics, polymer/surfactant rheology, and turbulence control using machine learning. His work bridges theoretical, computational, and experimental methods to address both fundamental and applied challenges.

Recent publications emphasize data-driven modeling of turbulent flows, elastic instabilities, and biological fluid mechanics. Over 30 awards highlight his contributions, including the 2024 Eugene C. Bingham Medal for rheology and the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (2018). He teaches graduate courses like CBE 620 (Intermediate Transport Phenomena) and supervises thesis research.

Graham’s lab develops reduced-order models for turbulence control, leveraging nonlinear dynamics and neural ODEs. His work on sickle cell disease biomechanics and viscoelastic flow instabilities has advanced both engineering and medical applications.