By David Murphy

Impactful science is Professor Dan Daniel’s goal at KAUST. The promise of excellent fundamental, blue-sky science that will drive the next paradigm shift will be met with the promise of translational science that transforms basic science into practical solutions.

A native of Indonesia, Daniel says it is “unusual” for Indonesians to pursue science as a career as, in general, it is a country without a “strong tradition of scientific excellence.” Even so, it was a humble book picked up in his high school library that would spark a lifelong fascination with biology.

“When I was in high school, I came across a book called “The Blind Watchmaker” by Richard Dawkins; in which he explains how natural selection results in organisms exquisitely tuned to their environment. From that moment on, I was completely hooked on biology.

“Later, I discovered the joy of doing exact science—physics and mathematics—and how this approach can be used to understand biology. I subsequently decided to marry my love of physics and biology: first, to understand biological surfaces and, second, to engineer bio-inspired surfaces for applications,” he noted.

Regarding his decision to join KAUST, Daniel singled out the University’s generous research funding, excellent scientific research infrastructure and the opportunity for collaboration with its internationally renowned faculty.

“Another important attraction in joining KAUST is my peers. Surrounding myself with colleagues who are innovative and passionate about science allows me to feed off their enthusiasm and drive my impactful multi-disciplinary research.”

A goal to create beautiful science 

 Daniel spent most of his formative years outside his home country: first in Singapore, followed by undergraduate (2011) and postgraduate (2017) training at the University of Cambridge, U.K., and Harvard University, U.S., before returning to Singapore. From 2019 to 2022, he was the group leader of the Droplet Lab at the Agency for Science, Research and Technology (A*STAR), in Singapore, before moving his lab to KAUST in November 2022. 

His main research interests are in the physics of droplets, wetting/adhesion and soft matter. He has authored and co-authored multiple papers in leading journals, including Nature Physics, Nature Materials, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Physical Review Letters and Physical Review X. More recently, he was awarded the IACIS Emerging Investigator Award 2022. 

The research work of the Droplet Lab is interested in two main areas. The first is a fundamental understanding of droplet physics: droplet motion, evaporation and condensation processes. The second is to engineer super-repellent, nonstick surfaces with many applications in the water-energy nexus (water-harvesting, anti-icing and anti-fouling) and biomedical devices (preventing blood clots). 

“Our first research drive has important applications. For example, understanding how small droplets or aerosols move in the air is a crucial step toward mitigating disease spread, as the recent COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated,” he explained.

“Regarding our second drive, many of the surfaces we design are bio-inspired by examples found in the natural world. It turns out that plants and insects are master engineers. Many plants and insects have surfaces exquisitely tuned to keep themselves clean; some can even harvest water from the air (e.g., needle-shaped leaves in cacti are excellent at capturing fog). This bio-inspiration drives our goal to engineer super-repellent, nonstick surfaces.

“I am especially interested in engineering surfaces for harvesting water from the air (dew and fog): a scalable solution for drinking water and agriculture. Some nonstick surfaces I work on also have applications in the oil industry: preventing crude oil from fouling pipelines, etc.”

As a curiosity-driven individual who has eagerly embraced the myriad twists and turns that a career in science presents, Daniel believes that at the end of the day, science should be made as beautiful as humanly possible.

“I am a firm believer in the notion that science recognizes no border, race or country. The best science is done through collaboration between smart, curious people, no matter their backgrounds,” he emphasized.

“It is extremely heartening to see scientists from developing countries, such as China and India, making their marks in the scientific world. I believe the same transformation can happen in Saudi Arabia, and that ultimately can only benefit science and humanity.”