How to Join

PhD students

Most years we add 1–2 new PhD students who are keenly interested in experimental fluid mechanics and have either a solid foundation in fluid dynamics — ideally with some experimental skills already — or some fluid dynamics expertise plus an exceptionally strong skill set relevant to ongoing or planned projects. It's fine to apply even if you have only taken a few fluids courses.

Candidates must apply via standard procedures: apply to the Department of Mechanical Engineering by the Fall admission deadline. In your application, please indicate your interest in our research and your motivation to join the FLOW Lab. Please do not send separate email before the application deadline, as a fair review of candidates is only possible once everyone has applied. After the deadline has passed, please do email to ask for your application to be reviewed.

For maximum research flexibility, we also encourage students to apply for external fellowships. Note that many fellowship deadlines are earlier than the graduate school application deadline. Some possibilities:

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
• Hertz Fellowship
• SMART Scholarship
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
• Soros Fellowship for New Americans
• AAUW International Fellowship
• DOE NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship
• DOE NNSA Laboratory Residence Graduate Fellowship
• NASA NSTGRO Fellowship
• Rickover Fellowship
• Explore any other special fellowships you may qualify for — and if you currently work for a company, ask whether they sponsor graduate studies. It never hurts to ask!

Postdoctoral scholars

Postdocs with experimental fluid dynamics experience may apply. Please contact Prof. Mäkiharju and send, in one email: your CV, a brief description of past research accomplishments and future goals, your three most significant papers (as PDF), and two academic references.

We are also happy to support postdocs in obtaining external funding, for example:

• President's Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Miller Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program
• L'Oréal For Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Any other special fellowships you may qualify for.

Undergraduate students

Please apply via the URAP program. If we aren't able to offer you a project one semester, please don't be discouraged — do apply again. Due to overwhelming demand we can usually accommodate fewer than 20% of applicants.

Visiting master's and PhD students

Please reach out directly to discuss potential research opportunities: contact Prof. Mäkiharju and send, in one email, your CV, a brief description of past research accomplishments and future goals, papers (if any), and one or more academic references. Visiting scholars' campus fees (usually $2–4k per visit), living, and travel expenses should be supported by their home institutions or other external funding, but the chosen visitor's visa fees will be covered by the lab.