Henry Shum

Associate Professor, Applied Mathematics

Research Interests : microorganism motility; biological fluid dynamics; biomechanics; medical microrobots; microfluidics; modelling artificial cells

Biography 

Henry Shum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. He obtained his M.Math.Phys. degree from the University of Warwick and completed his D.Phil. in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2012. He held postdoctoral positions at the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and at the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests involve modelling and simulating various microscale fluidic systems, such as flagellated microorganism motility, control of bio-inspired microrobots, and chemo-hydrodynamic pattern formation. He specializes in singularity-based methods for numerically solving the equations of Stokes flow and applies these to systems incorporating elastic, magnetic, or electrokinetic interactions.

Education

  • 2007 - 2012 PhD, Mathematical Sciences, University of Oxford, UK
  • 2002 - 2006, MMath-Phys, Mathematics and Physics, University of Warwick, UK
Henry Shum

Expand Collapse

Research

Prof. Henry Shum’s research focuses on modelling and simulating microscale fluid systems, with particular emphasis on the physics governing biological and bio‑inspired motion. His work explores biological fluid dynamics, microorganism motility, chemomechanical coupling, synthetic chemical reaction networks, and low‑Reynolds‑number advection–reaction–diffusion processes. His group develops numerical methods for fluid–structure interactions to understand how microorganisms swim, how artificial microswimmers can be controlled, and how chemical signalling processes unfold within and between cells. These studies support applications in microrobotics, soft active matter, and the design of bio‑inspired systems that leverage fundamental fluid mechanics and chemical interactions for advanced functional behavior.

Publications

Contact

Office: MC 6524

Email: ph3shum@uwaterloo.ca