Dr. Yue (Olivia) Meng

I am broadly interested in the physics of the cryosphere in a warming climate, with a current focus on the hydrology of ice sheets and ice-ocean interactions. Through the interdisciplinary lens of porous media flows, granular mechanics, and geoscience, my group aims to bridge pore/grain-scale physics with observations of Earth’s surface processes by integrating experiments, computational modeling, and deep learning.

I am currently a postdoc in the Stanford Icy Physics Group at Department of Geophysics at Stanford University. [Google Scholar] [CV]

I will be joining Purdue University as a tenure-track assistant professor in January 2025, with an appointment from the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering. Please send an email to olivmeng@stanford.edu if you are interested in Ph.D. and postdoc opportunities!

Research Areas

  • Ice-Sheet Hydrology

    Understanding the fate of meltwater through the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets and how it affects ice sheet mass losses.

  • Ice-Ocean Interactions

    Exploring the interactions between sea ice or calved icebergs and the ocean, and their impacts on the Earth's climate system.

  • Multiphase Flow and Granular Mechanics

    Applying pore and grain-scale physics to large-scale Earth science problems in the areas of energy and the environment.

Publications

Accepted

  • Meng, Y., Lai, C. Y., Culberg, R., Shahin, M., Stearns, L., Burton, J., & Nissanka K. Seasonal Changes of Mélange Thickness Coincide with Greenland Calving Dynamics. Nature Communications, [link]

Journal Publications

  • Meng, Y., Culberg, R., & Lai, C. Y. (2024). Vulnerability of Firn to Hydrofracture: Poromechanics Modeling. Journal of Glaciology, doi: 10.1017/jog.2024.47
  • Meng, Y., Li, W., & Juanes, R. (2023). Crossover from Viscous Fingering to Fracturing in Cohesive Wet Granular Media: A Photoporomechanics Study. Soft Matter, doi: 10.1039/D3SM00897E
  • Guével, A., Meng, Y., Peco, C., Juanes, R., & Dolbow, J. E. (2023). A Darcy-Cahn-Hilliard Model of Multiphase Fluid-driven Fracture. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, doi: 10.1016/j.jmps.2023.105427
  • Meng, Y., Li, W., & Juanes, R. (2022). Fracturing in Wet Granular Media Illuminated by Photoporomechanics. Physical Review Applied, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.18.064081
  • Li, W., Meng, Y., Primkulov, B. K., & Juanes, R. (2021). Photoporomechanics: An Experimental Method to Visualize the Effective Stress Field in Fluid-filled Granular Media. Physical Review Applied, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.024043
  • Meng, Y., Primkulov, B. K., Yang, Z., Kwok, C. Y., & Juanes, R. (2020). Jamming Transition and Emergence of Fracturing in Wet Granular Media. Physical Review Research, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.022012
  • Juanes, R., Meng, Y., & Primkulov, B. K. (2020). Multiphase Flow and Granular Mechanics. Physical Review Fluids, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.110516
  • Meng, Y., Zhu, H., Kwok, C. Y., Kuo, M., Jing, L., & Huang, X. (2018). Effect of Coefficient of Friction on Arch Network in Shearing Process under Low Confinement. Powder technology, doi: 10.1016/j.powtec.2018.05.002

Opportunities

The admissions cycle for Fall 2025 has opened! Prospective graduate students interested in joining my new research group in the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue University starting Fall 2025 can reach out to me at olivmeng@stanford.edu. Please include your CV, a brief description of your research interests, and why you are interested in pursuing a graduate degree with my group. The application process and requirements can be found here.

I am also recruiting a postdoc starting in 2025. Prospective postdocs are encouraged to apply to the prestigious Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellowships at Purdue Engineering for the proposal "Bridging pore and grain-scale physics to the changing cryosphere". Deadline to receive full application packets with recommendation letters is October 31, 2024. Please send me an email to discuss details if you are interested.

Students/Postdocs with interests or experience in any of the following are particularly encouraged to apply:

  • Geophysical glaciology
  • Multiphase flow in porous media
  • Hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport
  • Oceanography
  • Granular mechanics
  • Scientific machine learning