Rate My Professor Alexandra Alicke

Alexandra Alicke serves as an Assistant Professor on the tenure track in the Processing and Performance group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, a position she assumed in September 2022. She leads Group Alicke and holds an affiliation with the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems. Her academic journey began at Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil, where she earned a B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering in 2011, graduating with three academic excellence awards for her project on the rheological properties of gelled waxy crude oils. She then obtained an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from PUC-Rio in 2013, with a thesis titled “LAOS rheological characterization of an elastoviscoplastic material” supervised by Professor Paulo R. de Souza Mendes. During her master's, Alicke worked as a research engineer in PUC-Rio's Rheology Group, engaging in fundamental research and industry collaborations with Statoil and Petrobras. In 2016, she commenced doctoral studies at ETH Zürich's Department of Materials under Professor Jan Vermant, partially funded by a consortium studying electrocoalescence. She completed her D.Sc. in 2021 with a thesis entitled “Elastoviscoplastic interfaces and their role in the stability of multiphase materials.”

Alicke's research centers on the interplay between structure, processing conditions, and rheological properties of soft materials, leveraging her expertise in experimental 3D bulk and 2D interfacial rheology. Her work spans fundamental and applied challenges in biomedical, food, and energy industries, particularly focusing on multiphase systems such as emulsions and foams. She explores how liquid-liquid or air-water interfacial properties govern stability, enabling designs for prolonged shelf-life in food products and medical contrast agents, or controlled destabilization for targeted drug delivery and electrocoalescence. Key publications include “Mechanistic Insights into Emulsion Destabilization by Electric Fields” (Langmuir, 2025), “Yielding of model particle-laden interfaces in shear and compression” (Rheologica Acta, 2025), “The hidden subtlety of beer foam stability: A blueprint for advanced foam formulations” (Physics of Fluids, 2025), and “Understanding the large deformation response of paste-like 3D food printing inks” (Applied Rheology, 2025). Alicke received the Journal of Rheology Publication Award in 2021 and currently serves as guest editor for the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2025–2026). She delivers invited lectures, teaches courses on rheology and soft materials processing, and leads projects like “Innovative EMBOlization materials by Structure-Property relationships and Optimized Chemistry” (2025–2029).