Michelle Spanjaards is an Assistant Professor in the Microsystems group of the Mechanical Engineering department of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Her research focuses on understanding and controlling the behavior of complex fluids and soft materials at small scales through advanced numerical modelling. She develops and applies computational methods to gain fundamental insights into the rheological behavior of soft materials in microfluidic and biological systems and to translate these insights into the design of next-generation technologies such as smart sensors and biomedical applications. Her work is closely integrated with experimental research through interdisciplinary collaborations. Current research interests include non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, micro-hydrodynamics, neuromorphic engineering and computational microfluidics.

Michelle Spanjaards started her study in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where she obtained her MSc degree (with great appreciation) in 2017. Immediately after she started as a doctoral candidate in the Polymer Technology group of prof. Patrick Anderson. She obtained her PhD degree in January 2022 with her thesis entitled: "Modeling and optimization of polymer extrusion". After her PhD she spent several years in industry, working as a Research Scientist at Philips in the Multiphysics Models of Devices group. Since January 2024 she is employed as an Assistant Professor in the Microsystems group of prof. Jaap den Toonder at the TU/e.