Rui Ni

Rui Ni is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, directing the Fluid Transport Lab. His research focuses on experimental fluid mechanics, turbulence, multiphase flows, and their applications in energy systems, environmental engineering, and physiological processes. He holds a PhD in Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2011), followed by postdoctoral work at Yale and Wesleyan Universities. Before joining JHU, he held the Kenneth Kuan-Yun Kuo Early Career Professorship at Penn State University.

His research interests include dusty flows, Lagrangian particle tracking, and animal collective behaviors. Notable projects include collaborations with NASA on plume-surface interaction and the development of advanced diagnostic tools like physics-informed machine learning and 3D particle tracking. He has received prestigious awards, including the NSF CAREER Award and ACS-PRF New Investigator Award, and leads studies on turbulence modulation by deformable bubbles, fish schooling efficiency in turbulent environments, and interfacial mass transfer dynamics.

• Key Projects: Plume-Surface Interaction (NASA collaboration), Fish Aquarium with Turbulent Environment (FATE) facility, V-ONSET multiphase flow facility.
• Grants: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative Grant.
• Lab Focus: Experimental and computational studies of multiphase flows, physiological flows, and complex systems.

Ni’s work bridges fundamental fluid dynamics with practical applications, such as improving energy efficiency and understanding biological systems like fish schooling and nasal drug delivery mechanisms.