• Dense active suspensions
• Bacterial colony mechanics
• Active fibre networks

Meera Ramaswamy’s research focuses on problems in soft and living matter, particularly at the intersection of fluid and solid mechanics. She studies how these systems operate in complex environments and how they generate and respond to forces. For example, she explores how bacterial infections grow inside the human body—how they deform host tissue or respond to mechanical perturbations. Using model systems, she uncovers the underlying physics driving these behaviors. Her work often touches everyday life, from gut bacteria to fibrous networks that support desert soil.

Lab
Polymer Research Institute for Smart Manufacturing and Materials (PRISM)

ME Research Areas
Fluid Mechanics
Materials & Mechanics
 

ME Impact Areas
Environment & Sustainability
Human Health 

Education

Ph.D.2022, Department of Physics, Cornell University
BTech 2014, Engineering Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Professional Background

Princeton Center for Complex Materials Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, June 2022 - June 2025

Scientific & Professional Societies

Honors and Awards

2024 - Rising Stars in Physics, Columbia University.
2022 - Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) Postdoctoral Fellow.

Selected Publications

1. M. Ramaswamy, I. Griniasty, J.P. Sethna, B. Chakraborty, I. Cohen, A universal scaling framework for controllling phase behavior in thickening and jamming suspensions, Physical Review Letters, 134(5), 058203 (2025).

2. P. Sehgal, M. Ramaswamy (co-first authors), C. J. Ness, E.Y.X. Ong, I. Cohen, B.J. Kirby, Programmable viscosity metamaterials : Designing fluid properties using temporal superposition of shear and acoustics, Physical Review Research, 6(4), 043107 (2024).

3. M. Ramaswamy, I. Griniasty, D.B. Liarte, A. Shetty, E. Katifori, E. Del Gado, J.P. Sethna, B. Chakraborty, I. Cohen, Universal scaling of shear thickening transitions, Journal of Rheology, 67(6), 1189-1197 (2023).

4. R. Niu, M. Ramaswamy (co-first authors), C. Ness, A. Shetty, and I. Cohen, Tunable solidification of cornstarch under impact : How to make someone walking on cornstarch sink, Science Advances, 6.19, (2020).

5. M. Ramaswamy, N.Y.C. Lin, B.D. Leahy, C.Ness, A.M. Fiore, J.W. Swan, I. Cohen, How confinement-induced structures alter the contribution of hydrodynamic and short-ranged repulsion forces to the viscosity of colloidal suspensions, Phys. Rev. X, 7, 041005 (2017).