Dr. Tim Colonius

Biography

Professor Tim Colonius is a distinguished engineer with a focus on medical engineering, specifically in the areas of fluid dynamics and control. He holds the Frank Ora Lee Marble Professorship in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and serves as the Drinkward Leadership Chair in the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Colonius' expertise includes fluid dynamics, where he investigates global instabilities, cavitation bubble dynamics, and aerodynamic sound. His work extends into control systems, particularly in closed-loop flow control and reduced-order modeling. Additionally, he explores biomedical fluid dynamics, focusing on applications such as shock waves and lithotripsy ultrasound for treating conditions like kidney stones and bone nonunion. With experience as both an academic and a researcher, Colonius leads an interdisciplinary research group that employs large-scale numerical simulations to study the dynamics of ultrasound shock waves and their interactions with inhomogeneous materials. He collaborates closely with engineers, scientists, and medical professionals to translate his findings into clinical applications, enhancing the design of shockwave lithotripters.

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