physics

Sandra Troian

Sandra Troian is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sandra Troian rather than just read about it. In short: Sandra Marina Troian (born 1957) is an American applied physicist known for her research on fluid dynamics, quasicrystals, surface science, thin films, microfluidics, and spacecraft micropropulsion. She is a professor of Applied Physics, Aeronautics, and Mechanical Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and head of the Laboratory of Interfa…

Key takeaways

Sandra Troian belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sandra Troian to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sandra Troian from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sandra Marina Troian (born 1957) is an American applied physicist known for her research on fluid dynamics, quasicrystals, surface science, thin films, microfluidics, and spacecraft micropropulsion. She is a professor of Applied Physics, Aeronautics, and Mechanical Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and head of the Laboratory of Interfacial and Small Scale Transport in the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech.

Research The Thompson and Troian slip condition, a model for nonlinear flow of liquids at liquid-solid interfaces, is named for Troian's discovery of this model with physicist Peter Thompson, which they published in Nature in 1997. Her research has also included methods for controlling microscopic fluid droplets using a combination of chemical patterns and temperature variations on surfaces, rather than by using microfluidic pumps, published in Nature in 2000. In 2009, she found a model to explain the spontaneous growth of arrays of nanoscale pillars in polymer films placed between the surfaces of silicon wafers, allowing this phenomenon to be controlled and used for nanoscale construction.

Education and career Troian graduated from Harvard University in 1980. She completed her Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1987. Her dissertation, Mean Field Theories of Icosahedral Quasicrytals, was supervised by N. David Mermin. After postdoctoral work at Exxon Research, and at the Collège de France working with Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, she returned to Exxon as a staff scientist. She joined the faculty at Princeton University as an assistant professor of chemical engineering in 1993, visited Caltech as a Moore Distinguished Scholar in 2004, and moved to Caltech in 2006.

Whistleblower suit In 2014, Troian filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Caltech administration, claiming that they retaliated against her for reporting to the federal authorities a case of suspected espionage by an Israeli postdoctoral researcher in her laboratory. The alleged retaliation included an investigation against her for academic misconduct over an incident in which she listed her pet cat Pucci as a coauthor on a paper, following a tradition of similar pet coauthorships by other well-known physicists.

Recognition Troian and her coauthor Anne Dussaud were the 1999 winners of the François Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics. Troian was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2005, after a nomination by the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, "for pioneering theoretical, experimental and molecular simulation studies of micro-hydrodynamic flows".

References

External links Troian Research Group

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sandra Troian

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sandra Troian claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sandra Troian before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sandra Troian ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sandra Troian

In research: Sandra Troian appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sandra Troian in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sandra Troian is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, 21st-century American women, American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sandra Troian outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sandra Troian in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sandra Troian means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sandra Troian out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sandra Troian in simple terms?

Why does Sandra Troian matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sandra Troian?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sandra Troian.