Tara Dalton

The development of optical techniques for measurement at the microscale, dimensional analysis in heat transfer and fluid mechanics, and microfluidics. The primary application of her work is in the development of medical diagnostic systems for genetic analysis.The formulation of a generic dimensional analysis technique, and its application to the scaling of thermofluidic systems from the macro- to the micro scale. The development of novel optical techniques for the measurement of temperature, fluid velocity, pressure and strain, and the application of these techniques in the interrogation of macro- and micro-scale thermofluidic systems. The derivation of semi-empirical models for complex thermofluidic phenomena

Dr Dalton is currently the Assistant Director of the Stokes Research Institute in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Limerick. The Stokes Research Institute comprises eleven full-time researchers, seven of whom have PhDs, eighteen postgraduate students and an administrator. Dr Dalton has a B.Eng. in Aeronautical Engineering awarded in 1994 and her Ph.D, awarded from the University of Limerick in 1997, is on enclosure heat transfer as applied to electronic reliability design. At present she is engaged in managing the research contracts awarded to the Centre, augmenting the research funding for the Centre, the supervision of postgraduate students, and lecturing internationally on thermofludics