Donna Calhoun - Finite Volume Methods, Adaptive Mesh Refinement, Software and High Performance Computing

Donna Calhoun, Associate Professor Department of Mathematics

donnacalhoun@boisestate.edu

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Finite Volume Methods, Adaptive Mesh Refinement, Software and High Performance Computing

Biography

Donna Calhoun received her PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington. After post-docs at the Courant Institute (New York University, NYC) and Univ. of Washington, she spent almost six years working for the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), in Saclay France.  There, she developed simulations in support of the civilian nuclear industry in France.  Following that, she joined the faculty in the Mathematics Department at BSU, where she teaches courses in mathematical and scientific computing,  numerical methods, linear algebra and applied mathematics.  Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, NASA and DARPA.

Abstract

Many physical phenomena can be described using conservation laws that describe the conservation of mass, momentum, energy and other physical quantities of interest.   These laws can then be converted to a set of model equations which can be used to model the spatial and temporal evolution of physical quantities.  When solving these equations numerically, we use “finite volume” schemes which capture, at a discrete level, the conservative properties embodied in the physical laws.  In this talk, I’ll introduce the theory behind hyperbolic systems, and finite volume schemes, and then describe how we use it to solve problems in a variety of problems in geophysics.  Of particular interest are problems on curved surfaces such as the sphere.  I’ll also talk about the ForestClaw the parallel, adaptive software platform I have been developed.