About Me
Contact information
Mailing address: SOE2, Baskin School of Engineering, UC Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, CA-95064 Santa Cruz.
Office: Baskin Engineering room 353A
Telephone: 831-459-1055. Fax: 831-459-4829
Email: pgaraud at soe dot ucsc dot edu
Present occupation
I am a Full Professor in the department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the Baskin Shool of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. My main research interests are in fluid dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics applied to astrophysics and occasionally geophysics. I specialize in semi-analytical work, using a combination of "pen-and-paper" calculations with moderate-size numerical computations. I also collaborate with researchers specialized in high-performance computing of fluid dynamical phenomena and help in the interpretation of the numerical results. I am a member of the Fluid Dynamics Group of UCSC, and of the Theoretical Astrophysics at Santa Cruz (TASC) research unit.
Research
My main research interests at the moment are:
- Large-scale magnetohydrodynamics of the solar interior
- Modeling large-scale flows in stellar interior
- Modeling turbulent convection
- Understanding the properties of fingering convection, with applications to oceanography and astrophysics
- Understanding the properties of double-diffusive convection, with applications to astrophysics
- Modeling the dynamics of dust particles in proto-stellar disks
See my research page for detail.
Teaching
I teach a number of classes in Applied Mathematics from the introductory undergraduate level to the advanced graduate level. See the "Teaching" section of my web-site. This year (2012-2013), I will be teaching:
- Undergraduate classes: AMS15A: Case-Study Calculus part 1
- Graduate classes: AMS 212A, Applied Mathematical Methods I: Partial Differential Equations and applications
In addition, I alternate teaching the graduate seminar class on Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics (AMS 280C) with Nic Brummell.
Graduate students & Postdoctoral Researchers
I currently have two graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher :
- Ryan Moll (2nd year AMS graduate student) on "Diffusive convection"
- Justin Brown (2nd year Astro graduate student, partly advised with Stan Woosley) on "Fingering convection"
- Toby Wood (postdoctoral researcher) on various aspects of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
I am currently looking to hire one or two graduate students starting in the Fall 2013. Please see the information for prospective graduate students for more detail. I am also looking for a postdoctoral researcher to work on stellar evolution problems.
Current administrative & synergestic positions
- I am currently the Undergraduate Director for the Applied Mathematics and Statistics program. We offer one minor in Statistics and one minor in Applied Mathematics. Please feel free to ask me any question about these programs if you are considering them as a minor option. Our current plans to offer an Applied Mathematics and Statistics major are on hold until the current financial situation improves.
- I am the founding director of the International Summer Institute for Modeling in Astrophysics (ISIMA), a novel multi-disciplinary graduate training and research program, based in Santa Cruz.
- I am on the faculty of the Woods Hole Summer Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, after which ISIMA was designed.
- I am on the scientific advisory board of the Next-Generation Science Institute (NEXSI), a brand-new institute bringing theory to bear on the design of next-generation telescopes and instrumentation.
Biography
I completed my undergraduate studies in Mathematics and Physics at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, in 1996. I then decided to study abroad for a year and was awarded a Knox Scholarship by Trinity College to take part in the gruelling Part III of the Mathematical Tripos in Cambridge (UK).
I chose to stay in Cambridge for my PhD, and was awarded an Isaac Newton Studentship to study "The dynamics of the solar tachocline" with Prof. D. O. Gough (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge) and Prof. N. O. Weiss (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge). I completed my PhD in 2001, and stayed in Cambridge for my post-doc for another 4 years, funded by fellowships from New Hall (now Murray-Edwards college) and the Particle Physics and Astrophysics Research Council (PPARC). During my PPARC fellowship I had the opportunity to apply for a position at UCSC, and was delighted to be offered the job.
Funding
I am currently funded by a number of National Science Foundation grants:
- NSF 0847477: CAREER: Evolution of magnetized stars. PI: P. Garaud. Dates: 08/01/2009 - 07/31/2014
- NSF 0933759: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Fingering convection at low Prandtl number. PI: P. Garaud. Dates: 01/01/2010 - 12/31/2012
- NSF 1211394 Thermocompositional convection in the interior of giant planets PI: P. Garaud. Dates: 09/01/12 - 08/31/15