Purpose Committee Rules
Register Schedule Topics
Location Accomodation Regulations
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Purpose

MUFMech brings together students and faculty from graduate degree institutions within the region who have a common interest in the discipline of Fluid Mechanics and who wish to share their advancements of its knowledge.
This retreat focuses on student professional development, sharing preliminary results, and encourages attendees to utilize our collective expertise to address challenges and develop new ideas. Presentation of a talk is not a prerequisite for meeting attendance. We encourage researchers at all levels to participate! This is an informal conference where we avoid titles (ex: "Professor", "student", etc.) and address each other as equals and colleagues.
Attendees have expressed that the atmosphere at MUFMech is very condusive for networking, sharing ideas through conversations during breaks, and enables making connection with new colleauges. Sign up to be reminded of the next MUFMech retreat (or submit the email of someone you know that may be interested).
Network with fluid dynamics researchers from the Midwest!

Committee

Each year an institution volunteers to lead the MUFMech retreat. The Top Frog (i.e. retreat organizer) for 2026 is Scott Dawson from Illinois Tech!
If you are interested in participating in the organization of MUFMech or have other questions, contact one of our committee members.
Contact University Email
Alex Povitsky Akron alex14@uakron.edu
Scott Dawson IIT sdawson5@iit.edu
Hui Hu ISU huhui@iastate.edu
Bill Schultz Michigan schultz@umich.edu
Ahmed Naguib Michigan State naguib@egr.msu.edu
Kaz Tajiri Michigan Technological ktajiri@mtu.edu
Greg Wagner Northwestern gregory.wagner@northwestern.edu
Scott C. Morris Notre Dame smorris1@nd.edu
Shaurya Prakash The OSU prakash.31@osu.edu
Steve Wereley Ohio U. wereley@ohio.edu
Kishan Bellur U. Cincinnati bellurkn@ucmail.uc.edu
Farzad Mashayek UIC mashayek@uic.edu
Randy Ewoldt UIUC ewoldt@illinois.edu
Stuart J. Williams U. Louisville stuart.williams@louisville.edu
Parviz Merati Western Michigan parviz.merati@wmich.edu
The current and future hosts of MUFMech are: Notre Dame (2023), Michigan State (2024), Michigan Tech (2025), IIT (2026), Purdue (2027), UIUC (2028), Michigan (2029), and Western Michigan (2030).
Scott Dawson (Illinois Tech) is the Top Frog for 2026

Rules

There are long-standing rules at MUFMech to keep the meeting on-track, encourage professional courtesy, and keep the meeting light-hearted. Participants awarded Frogs must redeem them by contributing $2 per Frog to the refreshment fund. Frogs are handed out by the Keeper of Time and Giver of Frogs (KOTGOF) for any reason they deem worthy. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • Do not interrupt the speaker while they are presenting.
  • The speaker should have the audience's full attention. The audience should not be engaging in other distracting activities during a presentation (ex: not on social media!).
  • Avoid referring to other participants using a title, such as: Professor, Doctor, Student, Your Excellency, The Grand Wombat, Oh, Exalted Science Wizard, etc.
  • The speaker exceeds their allocated time.
  • The speaker may be given Frogs for typos, not numbering slides, or other errors.
  • Speaker or questioner exceeds the time allocated for discussion.
  • Not providing your name and affiliation, when asking the speaker a question.
  • Stating the funding agency or other sources of financial support for your work.
Session Chairpeople are responsible for starting the sessions, introducing speakers, and organizing Q&A. The KOTGOF for each session is responsible for maintaining the schedule and awarding Frogs according to the rules stated (or unstated!).
Be sure to bring $1 bills for redemption of Frogs. Your “Frog contributions” provide MUFMech with the funds for snacks and refreshments Thursday night and Friday evening.

The tradition of "handing out frogs" is over fifty years long. It started with handing out coasters from the Lake Wawasee Frog Tavern (Syracuse, IN).