Our research in this field concentrates on microorganisms like bacteria or phytoplankton moving in an aqueous environment and exposed to confining surfaces, nutrient gradients, or mild amounts of turbulence.

We are interested in the basic physical principles that can describe the collective behavior of agents that have means to explore their environment and respond to external stimuli. Think of bees in search of flowers, or geese flying.

Sand can behave as a solid (you walk on the beach without sinking), as a liquid (flowing in an hourglass), or if sufficiently stirred as a gas (flying in a sandstorm). We are interested in the aggregative processes in the dilute phase.