UBC Institute of Applied Mathematics

Home Welcome People Graduate Studies Research Groups Seminars and Events Computer Resources Library Links

Upcoming Events:

Monday, 13 Feb 2012, 3:00-4:00 pm, LSK 301: IAM Seminar Series and Fluids Seminar – Prof. Eckart Meiburg, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara. Gravity and Turbidity Currents Interacting with Submarine Topography

We will present an overview of high-resolution, Navier-Stokes based simulations of gravity and turbidity currents. The turbidity currents are driven by particles that have negligible inertia and are much smaller than the smallest length scales of the buoyancy-induced fluid motion. For the mathematical description of the particulate phase an Eulerian approach is employed, with a transport equation for the particle-number density. We will discuss differences between two- and three-dimensional turbidity current dynamics, and we will introduce some effects due to complex topography. Results will be shown regarding the unsteady interaction of a gravity current with a submarine structure, such as a pipeline. Furthermore, we will discuss the linear stability problem of channel and sediment wave formation by turbidity currents.

Tuesday, 14 Feb 2012, 12:30-13:30, WMAX 110: SCAIM Seminar – Tristan van Leeuwen, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UBC. Recent Advances in Seismic Waveform Inversion

Images obtained from (active) seismic data are used by the oil and gas industry for geophysical exploration. Waveform inversion tries to obtain a detailed image of the subsurface by solving a PDE-constrained optimization problem. The scale of the problem – typically 109 unknowns – and the size of the data – typically 1015 data points – severely limits us in the approaches that we can use to solve the problem. On top of that, the problem is highly nonlinear and the least-squares objective exhibits local minima. In this talk, I will give an overview of typical issues in waveform inversion and present recent research that addresses some of these issues. This includes optimization techniques that work with only small portions of the data at a time, robust data-fitting schemes and formulations that incorporate other unknown parameters, such as the source signature. Finally, I will discuss the object-oriented framework that we have developed in Matlab to test these algorithms.

More...

Awards:

May 2011: Prof. Ian Frigaard, has been elected President of the CAIMS Board for the term of 2011-2013.

April 2011: A former IAM Director, Prof. Michael Ward, has been awarded the 2011 CAIMS Research Prize for his significant successful combination of singular perturbation techniques and numerical methods to analyze boundary-value problems arising in a wide range of applied fields. Michael will give a prize lecture at this year's CAIMS Annual Meeting in Vancouver.

April 2011: Prof. Ian Frigaard, has been awarded the 2011 CAIMS-MITACS Industrial Mathematics Prize for his distinguished contributions to the theory of dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids as well as industrial applications using mathematical modelling for oil well construction.

Research Opportunities:

There are graduate student and postdoctoral openings at the Seismic Laboratory for Imaging and Modeling (SLIM). Successful candidates will work on the DNOISE project under supervision of the IAM faculty Felix Herrmann (Earth and Ocean Sciences), Özgür Yilmaz (Mathematics), or Michael Friedlander (Computer Science). See the SLIM website for more information.

Search IAM Website

Home

This is the home page of the Institute of Applied Mathematics (IAM) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Our mission is to foster interdisciplinary research in applied mathematics by creating a stimulating work and study environment for our graduate students, postdocs, faculty and their collaborators. The contents of this website have been organised into several categories – feel free to explore them all.

In the Welcome section, you can find out the basic information about us, such as our location, facilities, and how to contact us.
The People section will introduce to you our graduate students, alumni, faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, visitors and guest users.
The Graduate Studies section is intended to provide guidance for prospective applicants interested in graduate studies in applied mathematics at UBC.
The major areas of research conducted in the IAM are described in the Research Groups section. The information contained therein will be of interest to prospective students and collaborators.
Throughout the year, we organise and participate in a variety of scientific and social events. You will find out more about them in the Seminars and Events section.
The Computer Resources section describes our hardware and software facilities and contains some tips regarding their use.
The IAM Library consists of over 300 books in applied mathematics, the printed and electronic collections of IAM graduate theses, as well as an archival collection of IAM technical reports.
The Links section lists a number of useful links to various UBC departments and other sites related to applied mathematics.

Home Website Map Contact Info