Uros Tkalec

Biographie:
Uroš Tkalec is an experimental physicist from Slovenia who works at the intersection of soft matter, liquid crystals, and microfluidics. He is a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana and the Jožef Stefan Institute, and an associate professor at the University of Maribor. He earned his PhD from the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School in 2010, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. He has been a visiting researcher at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. 

Tkalec's research combines microfabrication with polarized light microscopy, high-speed imaging, and laser tweezers to control topological defects and flow-structure coupling in confined anisotropic fluids. His contributions include seminal work on reconfigurable knots in nematic colloids and on liquid crystal microfluidics, as well as recent advances in programmable defect textures in micropatterned nematics. His recognitions include the ILCS Glenn Brown Prize (2012), the national Blinc Award for Excellence in Physics (2021), and the APS Outstanding Referee distinction (2025).

Titre de la communication:
Flow-induced anisotropy of nematic interfaces on micropatterned substrates