LSU Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Andrei Tarfulea recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate diffusive regularization in kinetic and fluid equations. Tarfulea explains that the research involved is “part of the broader mathematical program of understanding turbulence. If turbulence, or the general chaotic motion of many particles, can be made more predictable, it can also be made more controllable”. Tarfulea hopes his research can be used in future breakthroughs related to the field of engineering and development of new technology and provide lasting contributions to the mathematics community.
Tarfulea was born in Romania and moved to the United States with his parents when he was 10 years old. After receiving his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton University in 2015 under Professor Peter Constantin, he performed as the L.E Dickson Instructor at the University of Chicago from 2016 to 2019 where Professor Panagiotis E. Souganidis mentored him, before accepting a position with LSU. Tarfulea says he was drawn to the LSU Mathematics Department by the excellent analysis and materials science groups and was impressed by the level of interdisciplinary collaboration between departments. When asked if his research had any impact on his instruction, Tarfulea responded, “I think it does. How I conceptualize and work through my own research problems certainly influences how I approach teaching mathematics. I occasionally incorporate results or techniques from my research area during lectures.” In spring 2021, Dr. Tarfulea visited the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California to perform as a research member of the program Mathematical Problems in Fluid Dynamics.
Contact: Landon Troxclair and Jolie Cornay
Photo: Bogdan Oporowski