Professor Powers received an S.B. in Physics and an S.B. in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. In 1995, he received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, with Prof. Phil Nelson serving as his advisor. After Penn, he held postdoctoral positions in the physics departments of Princeton University and the University of Arizona with Prof. Ray Goldstein. Then he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University with Howard Stone in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He joined the Division of Engineering of Brown University in 2000 as the first holder of the James R. Rice Term Chair in Solid Mechanics. Since 2020, he has been the associate editor of Reviews of Modern Physics for Fluid, Geometric, and Solid Mechanics. From 2009 to 2014 he was associate editor of Reviews of Modern Physics for biological physics. Powers is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
| Luo W, Baskaran A, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Flow states of two dimensional active gels driven by external shear." Soft Matter, vol. 20, no. 4, 2024, pp. 738-753. |
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Chiral fluid membranes with orientational order and multiple edges." Soft Matter, vol. 19, no. 43, 2023, pp. 8453-8464. |
| Khanra, Ayantika, Jia, Leroy L., Mitchell, Noah P., Balchunas, Andrew, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R., Dogic, Zvonimir, Sharma, Prerna. "Controlling the shape and topology of two-component colloidal membranes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 32, 2022. |
| Jia, Leroy L., Pei, Steven, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Axisymmetric membranes with edges under external force: buckling, minimal surfaces, and tethers." Soft Matter, vol. 17, no. 31, 2021, pp. 7268-7286. |
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Deformation and orientational order of chiral membranes with free edges." Soft Matter, vol. 17, no. 27, 2021, pp. 6580-6588. |
| Alas, Carlos, Powers, Thomas R., Kuriabova, Tatiana. "Swimming of microorganisms in quasi-two-dimensional membranes." Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 911, 2021. |
| Kumar, Ajay Harishankar, Thomson, Stuart J., Powers, Thomas R., Harris, Daniel M. "Taylor dispersion of elongated rods." Physical Review Fluids, vol. 6, no. 9, 2021. |
| Balchunas, Andrew, Jia, Leroy L., Zakhary, Mark J., Robaszewski, Joanna, Gibaud, Thomas, Dogic, Zvonimir, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Force-Induced Formation of Twisted Chiral Ribbons." Physical Review Letters, vol. 125, no. 1, 2020, pp. 018002. |
| Ding, Lijie, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Shapes of fluid membranes with chiral edges." Physical Review E, vol. 102, no. 3, 2020. |
| Duclos G, Adkins R, Banerjee D, Peterson MSE, Varghese M, Kolvin I, Baskaran A, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR, Baskaran A, Toschi F, Hagan MF, Streichan SJ, Vitelli V, Beller DA, Dogic Z. "Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics." Science, vol. 367, no. 6482, 2020, pp. 1120-1124. |
| Soni H, Luo W, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Stability of the interface of an isotropic active fluid." Soft Matter, vol. 15, no. 31, 2019, pp. 6318-6330. |
| Krieger, Madison S., Spagnolie, Saverio E., Powers, Thomas R. "Swimming with small and large amplitude waves in a confined liquid crystal." Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, vol. 273, 2019, pp. 104185. |
| Soni H, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Enhancement of Microorganism Swimming Speed in Active Matter." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 121, no. 17, 2018, pp. 178002. |
| Gibaud, Thomas, Kaplan, C. Nadir, Sharma, Prerna, Zakhary, Mark J., Ward, Andrew, Oldenbourg, Rudolf, Meyer, Robert B., Kamien, Randall D., Powers, Thomas R., Dogic, Zvonimir. "Achiral symmetry breaking and positive Gaussian modulus lead to scalloped colloidal membranes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 201617043. |
| Qi Z, Ferguson K, Sechrest Y, Munsat T, Park CS, Glaser MA, Maclennan JE, Clark NA, Kuriabova T, Powers TR. "Active microrheology of smectic membranes." Physical Review E, vol. 95, no. 2-1, 2017, pp. 022702. |
| Jia LL, Zakhary MJ, Dogic Z, Pelcovits RA, Powers TR. "Chiral edge fluctuations of colloidal membranes." Physical Review E, vol. 95, no. 6-1, 2017, pp. 060701. |
| Shi, Juan, Powers, Thomas R. "Swimming in an anisotropic fluid: How speed depends on alignment angle." Physical Review Fluids, vol. 2, no. 12, 2017. |
| Kuriabova T, Powers TR, Qi Z, Goldfain A, Park CS, Glaser MA, Maclennan JE, Clark NA. "Hydrodynamic interactions in freely suspended liquid crystal films." Physical Review E, vol. 94, no. 5-1, 2016, pp. 052701. |
| Soni, Harsh, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Wrinkling of a thin film on a nematic liquid-crystal elastomer." Physical Review E, vol. 94, no. 1, 2016, pp. 012701. |
| Krieger, Madison S., Spagnolie, Saverio E., Powers, Thomas. "Microscale locomotion in a nematic liquid crystal." Soft Matter, vol. 11, no. 47, 2015, pp. 9115-9125. |
| Krieger, Madison S., Dias, Marcelo A., Powers, Thomas R. "Minimal model for transient swimming in a liquid crystal." The European Physical Journal E, vol. 38, no. 8, 2015. |
| Jung, Ilyong, Powers, Thomas R., Valles, James M. "Evidence for Two Extremes of Ciliary Motor Response in a Single Swimming Microorganism." Biophysical Journal, vol. 106, no. 1, 2014, pp. 106-113. |
| Liu, B., Gulino, M., Morse, M., Tang, J. X., Powers, T. R., Breuer, K. S. "Helical motion of the cell body enhances Caulobacter crescentus motility." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 31, 2014, pp. 11252-11256. |
| Krieger, Madison S., Spagnolie, Saverio E., Powers, Thomas R. "Locomotion and transport in a hexatic liquid crystal." Physical Review E, vol. 90, no. 5, 2014. |
| Qi, Zhiyuan, Nguyen, Zoom Hoang, Park, Cheol Soo, Glaser, Matthew A., Maclennan, Joseph E., Clark, Noel A., Kuriabova, Tatiana, Powers, Thomas R. "Mutual Diffusion of Inclusions in Freely Suspended Smectic Liquid Crystal Films." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 113, no. 12, 2014. |
| Liu, Bin, Breuer, Kenneth S., Powers, Thomas R. "Propulsion by a helical flagellum in a capillary tube." Physics of Fluids, vol. 26, no. 1, 2014, pp. 011701. |
| Liu, Bin, Breuer, Kenneth S., Powers, Thomas R. "Helical swimming in Stokes flow using a novel boundary-element method." Physics of Fluids, vol. 25, no. 6, 2013, pp. 061902. |
| Spagnolie, Saverio E., Liu, Bin, Powers, Thomas R. "Locomotion of Helical Bodies in Viscoelastic Fluids: Enhanced Swimming at Large Helical Amplitudes." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 111, no. 6, 2013. |
| Dasgupta, Moumita, Liu, Bin, Fu, Henry C., Berhanu, Michael, Breuer, Kenneth S., Powers, Thomas R., Kudrolli, Arshad. "Speed of a swimming sheet in Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids." Physical Review E, vol. 87, no. 1, 2013, pp. 013015. |
| Dias, Marcelo A., Powers, Thomas R. "Swimming near deformable membranes at low Reynolds number." Physics of Fluids, vol. 25, no. 10, 2013, pp. 101901. |
| Marcos, None, Fu, H. C., Powers, T. R., Stocker, R. "Bacterial rheotaxis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 13, 2012, pp. 4780-4785. |
| Hyon, Yunkyong, Marcos, None, Powers, Thomas R., Stocker, Roman, Fu, Henry C. "The wiggling trajectories of bacteria." J. Fluid Mech., vol. 705, 2012, pp. 58-76. |
| Jiang, Hongyuan, Powers, Thomas R. "Curvature-Driven Dynamic Sorting of Lipids and Proteins in Membrane Tubes: The Race Between Convection and Diffusion." Biophysical Journal, vol. 100, no. 3, 2011, pp. 173a. |
| Demidenko, A. A., Lee, J., Powers, T. R., Nibert, M. L. "Effects of Viscogens on RNA Transcription inside Reovirus Particles." Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 286, no. 34, 2011, pp. 29521-29530. |
| Liu, B., Powers, T. R., Breuer, K. S. "Force-free swimming of a model helical flagellum in viscoelastic fluids." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 108, no. 49, 2011, pp. 19516-19520. |
| Powers, Thomas R. "Dynamics of filaments and membranes in a viscous fluid." Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 82, no. 2, 2010, pp. 1607-1631. |
| Fu, Henry C., Shenoy, Vivek B., Powers, Thomas R. "Low-Reynolds-number swimming in gels." EPL (Europhysics Letters), vol. 91, no. 2, 2010, pp. 24002. |
| Powers, Thomas R. "Publisher's Note: Dynamics of filaments and membranes in a viscous fluid [Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 1607 (2010)]." Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 82, no. 2, 2010, pp. 1945-1945. |
| Fu, Henry C., Shenoy, Vivek, Powers, Thomas, Wolgemuth, Charles W. "Swimming Microorganisms in Complex Media." ASME 2010 First Global Congress on NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology, 2010. |
| Fu, Henry C., Shenoy, Vivek, Wolgemuth, Charles, Powers, Thomas R. "Swimming Microorganisms in Gels." Biophysical Journal, vol. 98, no. 3, 2010, pp. 160a. |
| Qian B, Jiang H, Gagnon DA, Breuer KS, Powers TR. "Minimal model for synchronization induced by hydrodynamic interactions." Physical Review E, vol. 80, no. 6 Pt 1, 2009, pp. 061919. |
| Marcos, None, Fu, Henry C., Powers, Thomas R., Stocker, Roman. "Separation of Microscale Chiral Objects by Shear Flow." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 102, no. 15, 2009. |
| Fu, Henry C., Wolgemuth, Charles W., Powers, Thomas R. "Swimming speeds of filaments in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids." Physics of Fluids, vol. 21, no. 3, 2009, pp. 033102. |
| Lauga, Eric, Powers, Thomas R. "The hydrodynamics of swimming microorganisms." Rep. Prog. Phys., vol. 72, no. 9, 2009, pp. 096601. |
| Fu, Henry C., Wolgemuth, Charles W., Powers, Thomas R. "Beating patterns of filaments in viscoelastic fluids." Physical Review E, vol. 78, no. 4, 2008. |
| Jiang, Hongyuan, Powers, Thomas R. "Curvature-Driven Lipid Sorting in a Membrane Tubule." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 101, no. 1, 2008. |
| Fu, Henry C., Shenoy, Vivek B., Powers, Thomas R. "Role of slip between a probe particle and a gel in microrheology." Physical Review E, vol. 78, no. 6, 2008. |
| Qian B, Powers TR, Breuer KS. "Shape Transition and Propulsive Force of an Elastic Rod Rotating in a Viscous Fluid." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 100, no. 7, 2008, pp. 078101. |
| Fu, Henry C., Powers, Thomas R., Wolgemuth, Charles W. "Theory of Swimming Filaments in Viscoelastic Media." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 99, no. 25, 2007. |
| Jiang, Hongyuan, Huber, Greg, Pelcovits, Robert A., Powers, Thomas R. "Vesicle shape, molecular tilt, and the suppression of necks." Physical Review E, vol. 76, no. 3, 2007. |
| Short, M.B., Solari, C., Ganguly, S., Powers, T.R., Kessler, J.O., Goldstein, R.E. "Flagella-driven flows enhance long-range transport of molecular nutrients." Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 39, 2006, pp. S350. |
| Short, M. B., Solari, C. A., Ganguly, S., Powers, T. R., Kessler, J. O., Goldstein, R. E. "Flows driven by flagella of multicellular organisms enhance long-range molecular transport." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 103, no. 22, 2006, pp. 8315-8319. |
| Alipour-Assiabi, Elnaz, Li, Guanglai, Powers, Thomas R., Tang, Jay X. "Fluctuation Analysis of Caulobacter crescentus Adhesion." Biophysical Journal, vol. 90, no. 6, 2006, pp. 2206-2212. |
| Srigiriraju, Srikanth V., Powers, Thomas R. "Model for polymorphic transitions in bacterial flagella." Physical Review E, vol. 73, no. 1, 2006. |
| Srigiriraju, Srikanth V., Powers, Thomas R. "Continuum Model for Polymorphism of Bacterial Flagella." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 94, no. 24, 2005. |
| Kim, MunJu, Powers, Thomas R. "Deformation of a helical filament by flow and electric or magnetic fields." Physical Review E, vol. 71, no. 2, 2005. |
| Bauer, Simon. "Statistical-mechanical viewpoint needed in teaching biophysics." Phys. Today, vol. 58, no. 10, 2005, pp. 16-17. |
| Goldstein, Raymond E., Nelson, Philip C., Powers, Thomas R. "Teaching biological physics." Phys. Today, vol. 58, no. 3, 2005, pp. 46-51. |
| Samimy, M., Breuer, K. S., Leal, L. G., Steen, P. H., Powers, Thomas R. "A Gallery of Fluid Motion." Am. J. Phys., vol. 72, no. 9, 2004, pp. 1262. |
| Wolgemuth, Charles W., Goldstein, Raymond E., Powers, Thomas R. "Dynamic supercoiling bifurcations of growing elastic filaments." Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, vol. 190, no. 3-4, 2004, pp. 266-289. |
| Kim, MunJu, Powers, Thomas R. "Hydrodynamic interactions between rotating helices." Physical Review E, vol. 69, no. 6, 2004. |
| Kim, Min Jun, Kim, Mun Ju, Bird, James. C., Park, Jinil, Powers, Thomas. R., Breuer, Kenneth S. "Particle image velocimetry experiments on a macro-scale model for bacterial flagellar bundling." Exp Fluids, vol. 37, no. 6, 2004, pp. 782-788. |
| Kim M, Bird JC, Van Parys AJ, Breuer KS, Powers TR. "A macroscopic scale model of bacterial flagellar bundling." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 100, no. 26, 2003, pp. 15481-5. |
| Powers TR, Huber G, Goldstein RE. "Fluid-membrane tethers: minimal surfaces and elastic boundary layers." Physical Review E, vol. 65, no. 4 Pt 1, 2002, pp. 041901. |
| Powers TR. "Role of body rotation in bacterial flagellar bundling." Physical Review E, vol. 65, no. 4 Pt 1, 2002, pp. 040903. |
| Wolgemuth CW, Powers TR, Goldstein RE. "Twirling and whirling: viscous dynamics of rotating elastic filaments." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 84, no. 7, 2000, pp. 1623-6. |
| Koehler SA, Powers TR. "Twirling elastica: kinks, viscous drag, and torsional stress." Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 85, no. 22, 2000, pp. 4827-30. |
| KAMIEN, RANDALL D., POWERS, THOMAS R. "Determining the anchoring strength in a capillary using topological defects." Liquid Crystals, vol. 23, no. 2, 1997, pp. 213-216. |
Professor Powers' research interests include the physics of soft matter, molecular and cellular biomechanics, and nonlinear dynamics.
Current funding
NSF (National Science Foundation) CBET-2227361: Active fluids in externally driven flows (with co-PI R. Pelcovits); 9/1/22--8/31/25.
NSF DMR-2011846: Brandeis center for bioinspired soft materials (subaward to Brown University); 9/1/20--8/31/26.
Past funding
NSF CMMI-2020098: Shape and deformation of colloidal membranes (with co-PI R. Pelcovits); 9/1/20--8/31/24.
NSF DMR-1420382: Brandeis center for bioinspired soft materials (subaward to Brown University) with K. Breuer, R. Oldenbourg, and R. Pelcovits; 11/1/14--10/31/20.
NSF CMMI-1634552: Mechanics of colloidal membranes (with co-PI R. Pelcovits); 9/1/16--8/31/20.
NSF CBET grant 1437195: Locomotion and transport in a liquid crystal; 9/1/14--8/31/19.
NSF CBET grant 1336638: Pushing & pulling, bending & buckling; viscosity and elasticity in flagellar swimming (with K. Breuer--PI); 9/1/13--8/31/16.
NSF (National Science Foundation) CBET grant 0854108: Collaborative Research: Fundamental principles of swimming in a viscoelastic medium (with K. Breuer at Brown University and A. Kudrolli at Clark University); 9/1/09--8/31/13
NSF (National Science Foundation) DMS grant 0615919: Mathematical models for swimming in a viscoelastic fluid; 9/1/06--8/31/09
COBRE (Center of Biomedical Research Excellence) Pilot Grant: Role of fluid flow in nutrient transport in 3d chondrocyte culture (with V. Shenoy); 12/1/08--7/31/09.
NSF (National Science Foundation) CTS NIRT 0404031: Theoretical nanomechanics: from cells to solids (with M. Geller, PI, University of Georgia; M. Blencowe, Dartmouth College; R. Phillips, Caltech); 7/01/04--6/30/09
NSF (National Science Foundation) CAREER grant CMS-0093658 Growth and form in biological systems: a micromechanical approach; 6/01/01--5/31/06 (no cost extension to 5/31/07)
NSF (National Science Foundation) DMR-0320676, Acquisition of a Scanning Probe Microscope for Studies of
Biomolecules and Nanoscale Materials and Devices (with Jay X. Tang, PI; Gang
Xiao; James M. Valles; and Xinsheng Sean Ling); 9/1/03--8/31/04.
Brown University Research Seed Funding Award, Seed Funds in the Area of Biomaterials (with C. Brian, PI; K. Breuer; D. Hoffmann-Kim; J. Morgan; and T. Palmore; 1/1/03--12/31/03.
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Biomolecular Motors, Engineered bacterial transportation systems, with K. Breuer, PI; H. Berg; G. Huber; and L. Turner; 6/1/02--12/31/03.
Mechanics of self-assembled biological microstructures: membrane tethers, Brown Division of Engineering NSF Materials Research Engineering and Science Center (MRSEC) seed funding, 2001--2003.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | PhD | University of Pennsylvania |
| 1989 | BS | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Fellow of the American Physical Society
James R. Rice Term Chair, 2000--2008
CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 2001--2006
2001 T. Francis Ogilvie Young Investigator Lectureship, Ocean Engineering, MIT
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Breuer, Kenny | Professor of Engineering |
| Harris, Daniel | Associate Professor of Engineering |
| Pelcovits, Robert | Professor of Physics |
| Tang, Jay | Professor of Physics, Professor of Engineering |
| Valles, James | Professor of Physics, Chair of the Title IX Council |
American Physical Society (Life Member)
All courses taught at Brown University (see below for most recent courses)
Undergraduate Courses:
ENGN 0040 Dynamics and Vibrations (2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2024)
ENGN 0310 Mechanics of Solids and Structures (2012)
ENGN 0810 Fluid Mechanics (2001, 2002, 2010, 2019, 2020)
ENGN 1210 Biomechanics (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
ENGN 1370 Advanced Engineering Mechanics (2008, 2009, 2010)
PHYS 1530 Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (2016)
ENGN 1930R Molecular and Cell Biology for Engineers (2007, 2009)
EN 194 S03 Solid Biomechanics (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Graduate Courses:
ENGN 2020 Mathematical Methods in Engineering and Physics II (2007)
PHYS 2030 Classical Theoretical Physics I (2017)
PHYS 2140 Statistical Mechanics (2013, 2014, 2022)
PHYS 2470 Advanced Statistical Mechanics (2021)
ENGN 2810 Fluid Mechanics I (2022)
EN 291 S28 Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics (2000, 2003)
ENGN 2912F Soft Matter (2008, 2015, 2019, 2023)
ENGN 2912J Asymptotic and Perturbation Methods (2021, 2023)
ENGN 2912H Interfacial Phenomena (2018)
ENGN 2912I/PHYS 2610E Selected Topics in Physics of Locomotion (2011)
Summer and Winter Schools:
July 2022: Boulder School for Condensed Matter and Materials Physics: Hydrodynamics across Scales, Boulder, CO
January 2019: Microswimmer Lecture Series, School of Science, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
September 2012: Forces and Flow in Biological Systems, Physics Summer School, German Physical Society, Bonn, Germany
July 2012: Biological Complex Fluids Summer School, Cargése, Corsica, France
June 2012: Soft Solids and Complex Fluids Summer School, UMass Amherst, MA
May 2011: Workshop on Mechanics of Soft and Biological Matter, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy
July 2007: Nanomechanics: from Cells to Solids Summer School, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
June 2006: New Directions Short Course: Biophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota, MN
July 2002: Boulder School for Condensed Matter and Materials Physics: Physics of Soft Condensed Matter, Boulder, CO
Februrary 2001: Biophysics Winter School, Korea Institute of Advanced Studies, Seoul, Korea
June 2000: Complex Systems Summer School, Santa Fe Institute
| ENGN 0040 - Dynamics and Vibrations |
| ENGN 0810 - Fluid Mechanics |
| ENGN 1210 - Biomechanics |
| ENGN 2470 - Advanced Statistical Mechanics |
| ENGN 2810 - Fluid Mechanics I |
| ENGN 2912F - Soft Matter |
| ENGN 2912H - Interfacial Phenomena |
| ENGN 2912J - Asymptotic and Perturbation Methods |
| PHYS 2030 - Classical Theoretical Physics I |
| PHYS 2140 - Statistical Mechanics |
| PHYS 2470 - Advanced Statistical Mechanics |
