The research component of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award targets the development of robust and scalable stochastic particle methods for simulating complex, high-dimensional dynamical systems, with a particular research goal of enabling efficient, particle-resolved models of atmospheric aerosols and their climate impact. The research program will involve new mathematical techniques to allow dramatically faster simulations of complex particle systems, as well as making the methods robust and reliable enough to be routinely used by engineers and scientists. Students will be involved in the research at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and high-school-aged female students will be hosted for a week-long summer camp to explore ideas in dynamics and mechanics. In addition to the diverse student involvement, other deliverables will include new undergraduate educational materials, new mathematical algorithms for dynamical simulation, and open-source code for high-performance particle simulation.
The outcome and benefits of this work will impact both the areas of dynamical systems and the target application of atmospheric aerosol modeling. The improved understanding of aerosol particle processes generated by this research will contribute to a more accurate understanding of climate modeling and to the impact of aerosol particles on human health. In a broader context, this project is a step towards general techniques for computationally analyzing complex dynamical systems in high dimensions, and thus has the potential to contribute to a wide range of current scientific challenges. Graduate and undergraduate students will benefit from involvement in the research and through improved classroom instruction, while the high-school-aged female students participating in the summer camp will gain exposure and engagement with engineering and science.
