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Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Roseanna Zia
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Roseanna N. Zia is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University and, by courtesy, Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 with Professor John F. Brady, for development of theory in colloidal hydrodynamics and microrheology. Zia subsequently conducted post-doctoral study of colloidal gels at Princeton University, in collaboration with Professor William B. Russel. Zia began her faculty career at Cornell in January 2013, then subsequently moved her research group to Stanford University in 2017.
Dr. Zia’s research includes developing micro-continuum theory for structure-property relationships of flowing suspensions, elucidating the mechanistic origins of the colloidal glass transition, and microscopic modeling of reversibly bonded colloidal gels, which resulted in discovery that gel aging is actually ongoing but very slow phase separation and the finding that mechanical yield of colloidal gels is actually a non-equilibrium phase transition, triggered by changes in osmotic pressure. Her research group aims to unlock the fundamental connections between colloidal-scale physics and life-essential processes in biological cells using theoretical colloid physics, biological modeling, and high-fidelity computational models. Her group’s ultimate vision is to create a generalized platform for uncovering disease mechanisms and pathways for physics-based therapeutics.
Dr. Zia’s work has been recognized by several awards, including the PECASE Award, the ONR Director of Research Early Career Award, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator award, the NSF CAREER Award, the NSF BRIGE Award, the Publication Award from the Society of Rheology, and the Engineering Sonny Yau (’72) Teaching Award. Most recently she was named an Otterson Faculty Fellow at Stanford.
Dr. Zia serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Rheology, and on the Advisory Board of the AIChE Journal.
Dr. Zia’s research includes developing micro-continuum theory for structure-property relationships of flowing suspensions, elucidating the mechanistic origins of the colloidal glass transition, and microscopic modeling of reversibly bonded colloidal gels, which resulted in discovery that gel aging is actually ongoing but very slow phase separation and the finding that mechanical yield of colloidal gels is actually a non-equilibrium phase transition, triggered by changes in osmotic pressure. Her research group aims to unlock the fundamental connections between colloidal-scale physics and life-essential processes in biological cells using theoretical colloid physics, biological modeling, and high-fidelity computational models. Her group’s ultimate vision is to create a generalized platform for uncovering disease mechanisms and pathways for physics-based therapeutics.
Dr. Zia’s work has been recognized by several awards, including the PECASE Award, the ONR Director of Research Early Career Award, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator award, the NSF CAREER Award, the NSF BRIGE Award, the Publication Award from the Society of Rheology, and the Engineering Sonny Yau (’72) Teaching Award. Most recently she was named an Otterson Faculty Fellow at Stanford.
Dr. Zia serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Rheology, and on the Advisory Board of the AIChE Journal.
Education
PhD, California Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering (2011)