Bamin Khomami received his MS and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois, graduating in 1987. He did his PhD under the guidance of Prof. Tony McHugh working on
combined computational (FD and FEM) and experimental (PIV and birefringence) studies to elucidate the flow-history-morphology-property interactions in thermoplastic polymers. Immediately
thereafter he moved to Washington University at St. Louis, where he built a very strong research effort focused on the theoretical and computational modeling of polymer solutions and melts.
This work was centered on the development of hp-FEM methods for the solution of viscoelastic fluid flow problems which served to cement his international reputation. He became the Francis
Ahmann Professor of Chemical Engineering at Washington University in 1997 and he remained in this professorship until 2006. Over this period, he became a leader in a variety of numerical
simulation techniques associated with polymeric fluids including; novel hp-FEM computations, Brownian Dynamics (mesoscopic) simulations, non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (atomistic) as
well as Adaptive Brownian configuration field simulations. He moved to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2006 as the Distinguished University Professor and Head of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering, with the primary purpose of building a world class department, as well as leading the University’s Sustainable Energy and Research Center. He has served in this
dual capacity since 2006. In 2008, he received a dual appointment and became a Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering. In addition, between 1992 to 2006, he has
held positions as a visiting Professor at Stanford University, Universidad Nacional De Education A Distancia (Spain), and the Technical University of Denmark.
During his career Bamin has authored or co-authored over 175 archival journal publications and he currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Rheology (2007-Present),
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2008-Present), and Applied Rheology (2007-Present). He is also a co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and member of Board of Directors
of Celtig, LLC and International Graphene, LLC. Both companies produce high-quality commercial quantities of graphene nanoplatelets or flakes marketed worldwide.
Although Bamin has made a plethora of contributions across the field of rheology, his most significant contributions have been in the following areas: 1) The calculation and understanding of
multilayer viscoelastic flows and their stability, 2) Stable numerical methods for complex fluids calculation, 3) Thermal effects in elastic instabilities and “Thermo-elastic” instabilities,
4) Nonlinear Taylor Couette (and related curvilinear) flow instabilities driven by elasticity, and 5) Molecular rheology of entangled polymeric fluids with the goal of elucidating the importance
of single molecule dynamics in bulk flow.
Bamin’s service to the rheology community extends beyond his scientific contributions. He has regularly been involved in the organization of SoR Annual Meetings, hosted/co-hosted workshops on
Numerical Methods in Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, regularly participated in the Gordon Conferences on Polymer Processing, as well as organizing symposia at IUTAM, ICTAM, AIChE, and participating
in, or leading, critical SoR committees, including the Bingham Medal and the Financial Oversight Committee.
During his career Bamin has received several teaching and research award for his deep and lasting contributions to the theory, computation, and experimental study of complex fluids. These include
Fellowship in the American Physical Society (APS), American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), and now the Society of Rheology (SoR).