Biography:
Dr. Ching-Yao Lai and her group attack fundamental questions in ice-dynamics, geophysics, and fluid dynamics by integrating mathematical and machine-learned models with observational data. They use their findings to address challenges facing the world, such as advancing our scientific knowledge of ice dynamics under climate change. The length scale of the systems they are interested in varies broadly from a few microns to thousands of kilometers, because the governing physical principles are often universal across a range of lengths and time scales. They use mathematical models, simulations, and machine learning to study the complex interactions between fluids and elasticity and their interfacial dynamics, such as multiphase flows, flows in deformable structures, and cracks. They extend our findings to tackle emerging topics in climate science and geophysics, such as understanding the missing physics that governs the flow of ice sheets in a warming climate. They welcome collaborations across disciplinary lines, from geophysics, engineering, physics, and applied math to computer science, since we believe combining expertise and methodologies across fields is crucial for new discoveries. (Source)
