I would like to extend my thanks to my advisor Dr. Donald Rockwell for creating a great environment for study and research at the Fluids lab at Lehigh. I sincerely appreciate his very valuable and professional advice in all aspects of my research and academic life.
I am grateful to all people from the Fluids labs with whom I worked during this program. I want to thank Dr. Jung-Chang Lin for sharing his expertise in experimental techniques, Dr. Fevzi Unal for his invaluable help and advice on the force calculation methods, and Ms. Oksan Cetiner for valuable ideas and being a great lab partner. I want to express special thanks to Dr. Peter Vorobieff for his help and professional advice, for influencing my view of academic research through his dedication and excitement, and, most of all, for being a true friend.
I would like to thank my parents for their support and encouragement and my wife Svetlana for always being by my side and for her patience, support and help in absolutely everything I do.