Faculty Mentors
H. Metin Aktulga
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
My research interests are in the areas of high-performance computing, applications of parallel computing, big data analytics and numerical linear algebra. I primarily work on the design and development of parallel algorithms, numerical methods and software systems that can harness the full potential of state-of-the-art computing platforms to address challenging problems in large scale scientific computations and big data analytics problems.
Research Project
hma@cse.msu.edu
Sean Couch
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Sean Couch is a theoretical astrophysicist specializing in the study of the core-collapse supernova mechanism using large-scale numerical simulation. His recent contributions include demonstrating the enormous impact multidimensional stellar progenitor structure has on the supernova mechanism and showing that turbulence is playing a crucial role in aiding successful explosions. Dr. Couch is also interested in massive stellar evolution, the origin of the elements, black hole accretion, gamma-ray bursts and radiative transfer.
Research Project
couchsea@msu.edu
Filomena Nunes
Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
I work in nuclear reaction theory focusing on using few-body methods to describe direct nuclear reactions involving nuclei away from stability. My group explores applications to astrophysics and direct capture reactions involving halo nuclei.
Research Project
nunes@nscl.msu.edu
Brian O’Shea
Associate Professor, Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering
Brian O'Shea is a computational astrophysicist whose work focuses on cosmological structure formation and fluid dynamics - specifically, the formation and evolution of galaxies in a variety of environments and over the age of the universe, and the properties of hot, diffuse plasmas in the intergalactic and intracluster medium. He is a co-author of the open-source Enzo adaptive mesh code, an expert in high performance computing, and an advocate for open-source computing and open-source science. Prior to arriving at Michigan State, he received his PhD in physics from the University of Illinois and was a Director's Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National laboratory.
Research Project
oshea@msu.edu
Jose Perea
Assistant Professor, Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering; Department of Mathematics
I am an active researcher in the area of computational topology and topological data analysis. My work entails applications and adaptations of ideas from algebraic and geometric topology to the study of high-dimensional and complex data.
Research Project
joperea@gmail.com
Ashley Shade
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
We are interested in understanding the diversity and dynamics of microbiomes so that we can predict their responses to perturbations like global climate change. To do this, we use high-throughput sequencing to investigate the identities and functional potentials of members of the microbiome.
Research Project
shadeash@msu.edu
B. Shanker
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering; Department of Physics and Astronomy
My research interests include all aspects of computational electromagnetics — including frequency and time domain integral equation based methods, multi-scale fast multipole methods, fast transient methods, higher order finite element and integral equation methods — propagation in complex media, mesoscale electromagnetics, and particle and molecular dynamics as applied to multiphysics and multiscale problems.
Research Project
bshanker@egr.msu.edu
Phoebe Zarnetske
Assistant Professor, Department of Forestry
Dr. Zarnetske is one of the PIs within an interdisciplinary research group that focuses on modeling how biodiversity and ecosystem processes respond to environmental change in space and time - including climate change and land use change. The group use a range of computational tools to generate and analyze “big data” in the natural sciences, including: remote sensing, spatio-temporal statistical modeling, machine learning, Bayesian hierarchical modeling, and climate modeling. With these tools, they can better inform ecological science, earth system models, and natural resources policy. PIs within this interdisciplinary research group include: Phoebe Zarnetske (Spatial and Community Ecology Lab), Kyla Dahlin (Ecological Remote Sensing and Modeling Lab), Patricia Soranno and Kendra Cheruvelil (Landscape Limnology Lab), Andrew Finley (Geospatial Lab), and Lifeng Luo (Hydroclimatology Lab).
Research Project
plz@anr.msu.edu
Mohsen Zayernouri
Assistant Professor, Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering; Department of Mechanical Engineering
My research brings to bear recent computational tools from applied mathematics and data sciences to develop multi-fidelity and predictive simulation tools for challenging engineering problems, including turbulent flows, reacting and multi-phase flows, anomalous transport in porous and disordered materials, sub-/super-diffusion processes in the human brain, and complex biomaterials and tissue engineering.