Delace Jia

Delace Jia is a graduate student in mechanical engineering studying how flow can be used to structure lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals—biocompatible materials with applications in optics, biosensing, and microfluidics. Her research focuses on understanding the self-assembly of dynamic structures and topological defects that emerge when these materials are driven far from equilibrium. As a MathWorks Fellow, Delace will develop tools to map and manipulate local director fields, enabling new strategies for controlling soft matter and designing photonic devices. She uses MATLAB extensively to analyze polarization microscopy data, isolate local orientation and order, and track defect dynamics through custom image processing pipelines. Her algorithms extract quantitative maps of polarization parameters, providing new insight into how orientational order and flow interact. Delace also integrates particle tracking and velocity field analysis to explore how suspended particles respond to flow-structured textures. Her research is poised to advance both the fundamental understanding and practical utility of flow-induced organization in soft materials.