Tulin Kaman, associate professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, was part of the organizing committee for a workshop titled Modeling and Simulations in Fluids that took place Sept. 7-8 at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics in Providence, Rhode Island. The focus of the workshop was to build upon existing knowledge of the dynamics of unpredictable systems such as turbulent mixing and combustion. For scientific and engineering applications, understanding the subtleties of these dynamics has been one of the most challenging and important problems to consider.

Researchers from across the globe traveled to ICERM to highlight recent advances and challenges in modeling and simulations of realistic fluid flows. Proceedings from the workshop are to be published in a special issue of Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena titled "Compressible Turbulent Mixing."

U of A graduate students James Burton and Ryan Holley each presented a poster on their research.

"ICERM is one of a few NSF-funded institutes in North America that are devoted to research in the mathematical sciences." said Matt Clay, chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. "Its focus on computation and experimentation in mathematics directly aligns with Dr. Kaman's own research. This workshop, and Dr. Kaman's organization of it, illustrates the importance and the impact of her work in modeling fluid dynamics."

The workshop themes included analysis, modeling and computation of partial differential equations and applications in turbulent mixing and combustion. Topics included: (1) interface instabilities, (2) mixing in multiphase flows, (3) turbulence models, (4) scalable solvers, (5) uncertainty quantification and (6) applications in nature and technology.