MWM group had a very active 2019! Here are some of the highlights from our year.
A name change and a new logo!
In September WICC (Waves in Complex Continua) became MWM (the Mathematics of Waves and Materials). This new name provides a better fit for the broad and multidisciplinary nature of our research interests.
People
We welcomed several new PhD students, postdocs and staff over the course of the year:
Studentships:
Eleanor Russel joined us in April to work on Thermal Metamaterials as a Dyson CASE PhD student. A second Dyson Case student, Thomas White, started in September, working on Swirling Flow in Ducts. Also in September, Joshua Gillis joined us as a Department funded PhD student (Models of Nonlinear Viscoelasticity for Complex Solids), and Valentin Kunz began a Dean’s Scholarship funded PhD on the application of the theory of multivariable complex analysis to wave diffraction.
Post Docs and other staff:
Matthew Curd and Parmesh Gajjar began 6 month postdoctoral positions in January, working on the Experimental Characterisation of Microsphere Composites. At the end of August we were joined by Naomi Curati, who is working as EPSRC funded Public Engagement Manager.
In September, we were privileged to be joined by Anastasia Kisil. Initially joining as a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow, Anastasia has now begun a five-year Dorothy Hodgkin fellowship, researching Noise Reduction: Novel Mathematical Techniques for Aeroacoustic Metasurfaces.
Studentships:
Eleanor Russel joined us in April to work on Thermal Metamaterials as a Dyson CASE PhD student. A second Dyson Case student, Thomas White, started in September, working on Swirling Flow in Ducts. Also in September, Joshua Gillis joined us as a Department funded PhD student (Models of Nonlinear Viscoelasticity for Complex Solids), and Valentin Kunz began a Dean’s Scholarship funded PhD on the application of the theory of multivariable complex analysis to wave diffraction.
Post Docs and other staff:
Matthew Curd and Parmesh Gajjar began 6 month postdoctoral positions in January, working on the Experimental Characterisation of Microsphere Composites. At the end of August we were joined by Naomi Curati, who is working as EPSRC funded Public Engagement Manager.
In September, we were privileged to be joined by Anastasia Kisil. Initially joining as a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow, Anastasia has now begun a five-year Dorothy Hodgkin fellowship, researching Noise Reduction: Novel Mathematical Techniques for Aeroacoustic Metasurfaces.
 | Moving on: Matt Nethercote successfully completed his PhD. He is pictured here on graduation day with his primary supervisor, Raphael Assier. In July, Mike Smith left us after two years to take up a Postdoctoral position with David Abrahams in Cambridge University’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. |
M3C launch
 | The Manchester Materials Modelling Centre (M3C) launched in 2019. M3C, partner to the Royce Institute, is the home of theoretical and computational materials modelling at Manchester. September’s kick-off event, “Nano and Microstructural Materials Modelling”, brought together scientists and engineers from a wide range of scientific disciplines. |
Prizes and grants
In early 2019, Will Parnell received an £897K extension to his current EPSRC Fellowship`NEMESIS’ (New Mathematics for Materials Modelling in the Engineering Sciences and Industrial Sectors). More information is available here.
In June, Will was awarded a London Mathematical Society Whitehead Prize. Will is pictured here with LMS President Professor Caroline Series, at the LMS AGM in November. You can read the citation for Will's prize here
Matt Nethercote was a runner up for the 2019 IMA Lighthill-Thwaites prize for a paper submitted to the Journal of Applied Mathematics with Raphael Assier and David Abrahams. Here is a video of Matt presenting his research at the Isaac Newton Institute in August.
Publications and events
We published several papers in 2019, listed here, and are awaiting publication of several more. In addition, Raphael Assier has edited a special issue of the journal Wave Motion, on canonical scattering, along with David Abrahams.
Several conference talks were given: In June, Will Parnell was invited to speak at the 30th anniversary event of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He also spoke at the International Rubber Conference 2019 and was a plenary speaker at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) in November.
Raphael Assier was resident at the Isaac Newton Institute (INI) for three weeks in August as part of a programme dedicated to the Wiener-Hopf technique. Raphael delivered a 5 lecture summer school with Andrey Shanin on multivariable complex analysis at (you can find videos of Raphael's lectures here).
Also at the INI, Anastasia Kisil took part in the 4-month programme, Complex analysis: techniques, applications and computations. The programme brought together key researchers in the field with a series of workshops and seminars. A video of Anastasia's seminar is here.
Several of our PhD students were able to attend conferences this year, including first year students Eleanor (Phononics 2019 in Tucson, and IMECE 2019 in Salt Lake City), and Tom (Mat&Flow in Le Mans, and Denorms: Designs for Noise Reducing Materials and Structures training school in Budapest).
In October, we hosted a 2-day Workshop on Mechanical and Acoustic Properties of Syntactic Foams, with funding from the EPSRC and UK Acoustics Network. Plenary talks were from Nikhil Gupta (NYU Tandon School of Engineering) and Oscar Lopez-Pamies, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign).
Several conference talks were given: In June, Will Parnell was invited to speak at the 30th anniversary event of the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He also spoke at the International Rubber Conference 2019 and was a plenary speaker at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) in November.
Raphael Assier was resident at the Isaac Newton Institute (INI) for three weeks in August as part of a programme dedicated to the Wiener-Hopf technique. Raphael delivered a 5 lecture summer school with Andrey Shanin on multivariable complex analysis at (you can find videos of Raphael's lectures here).
Also at the INI, Anastasia Kisil took part in the 4-month programme, Complex analysis: techniques, applications and computations. The programme brought together key researchers in the field with a series of workshops and seminars. A video of Anastasia's seminar is here.
Several of our PhD students were able to attend conferences this year, including first year students Eleanor (Phononics 2019 in Tucson, and IMECE 2019 in Salt Lake City), and Tom (Mat&Flow in Le Mans, and Denorms: Designs for Noise Reducing Materials and Structures training school in Budapest).
In October, we hosted a 2-day Workshop on Mechanical and Acoustic Properties of Syntactic Foams, with funding from the EPSRC and UK Acoustics Network. Plenary talks were from Nikhil Gupta (NYU Tandon School of Engineering) and Oscar Lopez-Pamies, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign).
Also in October, we took part in a Platform for Investigation public engagement event at the Science and Industry Museum. Over 600 visitors joined us as we explored the mathematics of sound. We made extraordinary patterns in sand using vibrations and found out how to make sci-fi sound effects with a slinky!
Looking forward to 2020!
We are looking forward to a busy year full of events and collaborations. Will Parnell has been invited to speak at the European Conference on Acoustic & Mechanical Metamaterials, and at Syntactic and Composite foams VI.
Raphael Assier will travel to the Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique in Marseille to work on homogenisation with Bruno Lombard and Cédric Bellis.
As a coordinator for the UKAN special interest group for Mathematical Analysis in Acoustics, Anastasia Kisil is looking forward to the Mathematics in Acoustics Conference at Greynog in July.
2020 is the International Year of Sound, and we are planning events and schools workshops in celebration! For example, in March we will deliver workshops on sound to local secondary schools, and take fun activities that explore the mathematics of sound waves to the Big Bang Fair. The latest updates on our plans for Sound2020 can be found here.
Raphael Assier will travel to the Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique in Marseille to work on homogenisation with Bruno Lombard and Cédric Bellis.
As a coordinator for the UKAN special interest group for Mathematical Analysis in Acoustics, Anastasia Kisil is looking forward to the Mathematics in Acoustics Conference at Greynog in July.
2020 is the International Year of Sound, and we are planning events and schools workshops in celebration! For example, in March we will deliver workshops on sound to local secondary schools, and take fun activities that explore the mathematics of sound waves to the Big Bang Fair. The latest updates on our plans for Sound2020 can be found here.
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