By the Numb3rs Spring 2022 - Featured Research

Featured Research

Ming Chen

Ming Chen: Bifurcation, Stability and Non-Uniqueness in Ideal Fluids

This project seeks to promote and advance the mathematical theory of free-surface water waves and compressible fluids, which host a wide range of interesting physical phenomena and whose dynamics is governed by the Euler equations.

The main goals are to develop new or extend existing analytic techniques to establish existence and stability theory for steady water waves, and to investigate uniqueness properties for weak solutions to one-dimensional systems of compressible gases. Progress in this project will enhance our understanding of the mathematics of ideal fluids and develop novel mathematical tools that can provide insight into truly nonlinear phenomena in partial differential equations. This research will also involve training and collaboration with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Chen received a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Award in July 2022 to pursue this project. He is an Associate Professor, Colloquium Chair, and holds a PhD from Brown University.

 

Sabrina Streipert

Sabrina Streipert: Formulating Conservation Strategies in Sustainable Management Decisions

After receiving her PhD in mathematics from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Sabrina intensified her research in applied mathematics through postdoctoral positions at the University of Queensland (Australia) and at the McMaster University (Canada).

“My main research area,” she says “is in the formulation and analysis of mathematical population models. I am also interested in employing these models to formulate conservation strategies.”

As part of a joint project with the Queensland government, Sabrina’s team assessed the Australian Barramundi fish population and derived sustainable harvest strategies that were legally implemented. This work highlighted not only the potential of mathematics in sustainable management decisions but also the need for collaborations across disciplines. 

Sabrina says she’s excited to have joined the Pitt community that “provides a stimulating network of distinguished researchers within mathematics and other sciences.”