Core Faculty

• Francois Blanchette (Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology) -- computational and theoretical multiphase fluid dynamics with applications to sedimenting systems and surface tension dominated flows.
• Boaz Ilan (Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) -- nonlinear analysis applied to control of intense laser beams and high-precision measurements of frequency and time.
• Arnold D. Kim (Ph.D. University of Washington) -- wave propagation in random media applied to biomedical optical imaging and wireless communications.
• Kevin Mitchell (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley) -- dynamical systems applied to atomic, molecular and optical physics.
• Michael Sprague (Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder) -- computational mathematics of structural mechanics and fluid mechanics with applications in geophysical fluid dynamics
• Mayya Tokman (Ph.D. California Institute of Technology) -- computational science, numerical analysis, mathematical modeling applied to plasma physics

Affiliate Faculty

• Alberto Cerpa -- computer networking and distributed systems areas
• Raymond Chiao -- The interface of quantum mechanics and general relativity involves conceptual tensions which need much experimental, as well as theoretical, exploration. Partial differential equations and differential geometry are the natural tools for the theoretical aspects of this exploration. In particular, I am initiating an experiment at Merced to look at the coupling between electromagnetic and gravitational radiations by means of quantum many-body systems, such as superfluid helium drops covered with many electrons, which are then levitated at low temperatures and placed in strong magnetic fields.
• Ajay Gopinathan -- Analytical treatment and computational modeling of biomembrane dynamics, cell motility, cytoskeletal dynamics, polymer translocation, anomalous diffusion in polymer systems, chemotaxis.
• Thomas C. Harmon -- contaminant transport in aquatic systems, soil and groundwater remediation, development and use of environmental sensors.
• Marcello Kallman -- geometric modeling, computer graphics, computer animation, autonomous agents, robotics and artificial intelligence.
• Shawn Newsam -- image processing, computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning, content-based information retrieval, digital libraries, data mining, and knowledge discovery in spatio-temporal, multimedia and scientific datasets.
• Katie L. Winder -- labor economics, applied econometrics, economics of gender, poverty
• Jeffrey Yoshimi -- philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, phenomenology (especially Husserl) and neural networks