Karen E. Daniels | |
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![]() Daniels in May 2022 | |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Advances in experimental probes of the structure and mechanics of granular materials. |
Awards | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Experimental Physics, Soft Matter, Granular Materials |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Pattern Formation and Dynamics in Inclined Layer Convection |
Doctoral advisor | Eberhard Bodenschatz |
Other academic advisors | Mary Hudson, Robert Behringer |
Website | danielslab |
Karen E. Daniels is an American physicist who is a professor of physics at North Carolina State University. Her research considers the deformation and failure of materials. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and serves on their Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Daniels completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Dartmouth College in 1994. [1] [2] She originally planned to study engineering. [3] After graduating, Daniels spent three years as a physics teacher at Saint Ann's School. Daniels joined Cornell University as a graduate student, earning a PhD in 2002. [1] She was a postdoctoral research associate at Duke University, working on jamming transitions. [1] [4] At Duke University, Daniels developed a technique that can make a container of granules arrange into a solid-state crystal (freeze) or into a fluid (melt) by changing the rate at which they are shaken. [5]
Daniels joined North Carolina State University as an assistant professor in 2005. [1] She is interested in how materials compress, stretch and bend when a force is applied. [6] She specializes in granular materials and their force chains, and how networks within granular materials control their bulk properties. She developed a way to monitor whether granular materials reach a thermodynamic equilibrium, using plastic granules. [7]
In 2011, Daniels spent a year as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, [1] [8] coordinating a workshop on complex system's: "Particulate Matter: Does Dimensionality Matter." [9] She worked with Haverford College to study the naturally arising sound waves of granular materials. [10] [11] When the materials experience shear stress, the vibrating grains start to stick to the interface. When the stress becomes too much, several grains slip at once, rearranging into new patterns. [12] The stick-slip transition is accompanied by low-frequency vibrational modes. [12] She demonstrated that sound passes through the areas of a material where particles are tightest together. [12] Her lab team have investigated how space missions could explore asteroids. [13] She was supported by NASA to conduct experiments in zero gravity, and took a group of undergraduates to Zero Gravity Corporation. [13] She has also looked at liquid metals, and demonstrated that applying a low voltage to eutectic gallium-indium can cause it to form snowflake-like crystals. [14]
Daniels is on the editorial board of Physical Review Letters . [1] [15] She serves on the American Physical Society Topical Group on Soft Matter committee. [16] Daniels has been involved with activities to increase the representation of women in physics since the start of her career. [17] She is part of the North Carolina State University NSF ADVANCE award "Developing Diverse Departments". [1] [18]