Rate My Professor Amy Shen

Professor Amy Shen serves as Provost, Professor, and Vice CEO at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), where she has led the Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit since July 2014. She earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000, an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the same university in 1996, an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics with highest honors from Tongji University in 1994, and a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Hunan University in 1992. Prior to OIST, Shen held a tenured position as Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington from 2008 to 2014, was Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis from 2002 to 2008, and served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University from 2000 to 2002.

Shen's research focuses on rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics at nano-biointerfaces, integrated with microfluidics, utilizing 3D printing, microfabrication, and imaging techniques to investigate flow dynamics involving nano- or micro-structures. Her group develops lab-on-a-chip platforms for biosensing and disease diagnostics. She is a Fellow of the Society of Rheology (2022), American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (2021), and Royal Society of Chemistry (2021), and has received the OIST Excellence in Mentoring Award (2020), Fulbright Scholar Award (2013-2014), and National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2007-2012). Notable publications include 'Torsional instability of constant viscosity elastic liquid bridges' (Soft Matter, 2022), 'Population genetics in microchannels' (PNAS, 2022), 'Nanoplasmonic multiplex biosensing for COVID-19 vaccines' (Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2022), 'Alignment of colloidal rods in crowded environments' (Macromolecules, 2022), and 'Upstream Wall Vortices in Viscoelastic Flow Past a Cylinder' (Soft Matter, 2022). Shen serves as Associate Editor for Soft Matter (2020-present), Editorial Board member for Journal of Rheology (2022-2025), ACS Biosensors, Physics of Fluids, and others, and has chaired OIST's Appointment and Promotion Committee while contributing to numerous faculty search and evaluation committees.