CAIMS*SCMAI is happy to announce that the recipient of the 2013 CAIMS*SCMAI Cecil Graham Doctoral Dissertation Award is Dr Frances Mackay of the University of Western Ontario. Her thesis titled: “Hybrid lattice Boltzmann – molecular dynamics simulations with both simple and complex fluids”, was completed under the supervision of Professor Colin Denniston in the Department of Applied Mathematics at Western. The dissertation addresses the problem of modelling colloidal structures in complex fluids and, in particular, liquid crystals. These models consist of coupled systems of nonlinear differential equations describing the dynamics of the liquid crystal and the moving boundaries of the colloidal particles in the fluid. The main contribution is the development of a new method, the hybrid lattice Boltzmann – molecular dynamics simulation, for coupling point and composite particles to the fluid. The thesis has opened new areas for experiment and industrial application.

An honourable mention in this year’s competition was given to Dr Jeffrey Musgrave from the University of Ottawa, supervised by Professor Frithjof Lutscher.