Background

Positions
Associate Head/Director of Graduate Studies (Fall 2022 – present)
Professor (Fall 2010 – present)
Associate Professor (Fall 2003 – Spring 2010)
Assistant Professor (Fall 1999 – Spring 2003)
‍Department of Mathematics
University of Tennessee

Associate Research Scientist (1997 - 1999)
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
Advisors: Professor Robert V. Kohn, Professor Weinan E

NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Research Fellow (1996 - 1997)
Postdoctoral Research Associate (1995 - 1996)
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
University of Cambridge
Advisor: Professor M. Grae Worster

Education
Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics (1991 - 1995)
McCormick School of Engineering
Northwestern University
‍Thesis topic: Shear stabilization of morphological instability during directional solidification
Thesis advisor: Professor Stephen H. Davis

B.S.E. in Interdisciplinary Engineering (1987 - 1991)
College of Engineering
University of Washington
‍‍Area of focus: Applied Mathematics

Extended Visits
Sabbatical 2020 ——
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Univ. of Cambridge
Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College
‍
Sabbatical 2012 ——
Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA
Co-chair for long program: Materials Defects: Mathematics, Computation, and Engineering
‍
Sabbatical 2006 ——
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU
Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University
Department of Mathematics, Univ. of Michigan
Industrial Research Limited, Victoria Univ. of Wellington
During these visits I worked with collaborators on various research projects
‍
Sabbatical 2005 ——
Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA
Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications, Univ. of Minnesota
Organized workshops and worked on research
‍
Spring 2002 ——
Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University
During this visit I worked on research with Professor Weinan E

Current and Former Collaborators
Dan Anderson, George Mason University
Weinan E, Princeton University
Ken Elder, Oakland University
Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland
Christian Ratsch, UCLA
Dmitri Schebarchov, Toha Foundry Ltd
Peter Smereka, Univ. of Michigan (deceased)
Grae Worster, University of Cambridge
Aaron Nung Kwan Yip, Purdue University
Zhenyu Zhang, Univ. of Science/Technology, China

Post Docs
Henry Boateng (Fall 2010 – Spring 2013)
Mike Saum (Fall 2006 – Spring 2008)
Weidong Guo (Spring 2004 – Spring 2005)

Current and Former PhD Students
John Hicks (Ph.D. Summer 2020)
Khoa Dinh (Ph.D. Spring 2019)
Hamza Ruzayqat (Ph.D. Spring 2018)
Tim Krumweide (Ph.D. Spring 2017)
Kyle Golenbiewski (Ph.D. Spring 2016)
Holly Clark (Ph.D. Spring 2014)
Nick Gewecke (Ph.D. Spring 2011)
Hua Chen (Physics, joint with Zhenyu Zhang, Ph.D. Spring 2012)