Monday, February 02, 2026
4:00 PM -
5:00 PM
Annenberg 105
H.B. Keller Colloquium
Series: H. B. Keller Colloquium Series
High Order Numerical Mmethods for hHyperbolic Eequations
Chi-Wang Shu,
Theodore B. Stowell University Professor,
Applied Mathematics,
Brown University,
Speaker's Bio:
Professor Shu received his B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, in 1982. In 1986 he received his Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from the Mathematics Department of the University of California at Los Angeles with Professor Stanley Osher as his advisor. He then spent a year at the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications (IMA) in University of Minnesota as a post doctoral fellow. Since 1987 he has been with the Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, as an Assistant Professor (1987-91), Associate Professor (1992-96), Professor (1996- ), Division Chair (1999-2005; 2023- ), and Theodore B. Stowell University Professor (2008- ). In 1992 he received the NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for the pioneering work in Computational Fluid Dynamics as part of the ICASE algorithm team. In 1995 he received the first Feng Kang Prize of Scientific Computing from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2004 he has been listed as an ISI Highly Cited Author in Mathematics by the ISI Web of Knowledge, Thomson Scientific Company. In 2007 he received the SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering (SIAM/ ACM CSE Prize) "for the development of numerical methods that have had a great impact on scientific computing, including TVD temporal discretization, ENO and WENO finite difference schemes, discontinuous Galerkin methods, and spectral methods" (from the prize citation). See SIAM News Article. In 2009 he was selected as one of the first 183 members of the inaugural class of Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). In 2012 he was selected as one of the inaugural class of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS). In 2014 he was an invited 45-minute speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Seoul. In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) "for his exceptional dedication and contribution to mentoring, supporting, and advancing women in the mathematical sciences; for his incredible role in supervising many women Ph.D.s, bringing them into the world of research to which he has made fundamental contributions, and nurturing their professional success" (from the election citation). In 2021 he received the SIAM John von Neumann Prize "in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the numerical solution of partial differential equations. His work on finite difference essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) methods, weighted ENO (WENO) methods, finite element discontinuous Galerkin methods, and spectral methods has had a major impact on scientific computing" (from the prize citation), see SIAM News Blog. Also in 2021 he was bestowed an Honorary University Fellowship by the Hong Kong Baptist University. In 2021 he was elected to serve in the SIAM Board of Trustees (1/22-12/27). In 2022 he was ranked #11 in the world and #8 in the United States in the Research.com 2022 Edition of the Ranking of Top 1000 Scientists in Mathematics. In 2023 he was selected as a recipient of a Brown Distinguished Research Achievement Award. In 2025 he was awarded the Frontiers of Science Award by the International Congress of Basic Science. In 2026 he was awarded The 2025 Hua Prize by the International Consortium of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM).
Professor Shu received his B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, in 1982. In 1986 he received his Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from the Mathematics Department of the University of California at Los Angeles with Professor Stanley Osher as his advisor. He then spent a year at the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications (IMA) in University of Minnesota as a post doctoral fellow. Since 1987 he has been with the Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, as an Assistant Professor (1987-91), Associate Professor (1992-96), Professor (1996- ), Division Chair (1999-2005; 2023- ), and Theodore B. Stowell University Professor (2008- ). In 1992 he received the NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for the pioneering work in Computational Fluid Dynamics as part of the ICASE algorithm team. In 1995 he received the first Feng Kang Prize of Scientific Computing from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2004 he has been listed as an ISI Highly Cited Author in Mathematics by the ISI Web of Knowledge, Thomson Scientific Company. In 2007 he received the SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering (SIAM/ ACM CSE Prize) "for the development of numerical methods that have had a great impact on scientific computing, including TVD temporal discretization, ENO and WENO finite difference schemes, discontinuous Galerkin methods, and spectral methods" (from the prize citation). See SIAM News Article. In 2009 he was selected as one of the first 183 members of the inaugural class of Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). In 2012 he was selected as one of the inaugural class of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS). In 2014 he was an invited 45-minute speaker in the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Seoul. In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) "for his exceptional dedication and contribution to mentoring, supporting, and advancing women in the mathematical sciences; for his incredible role in supervising many women Ph.D.s, bringing them into the world of research to which he has made fundamental contributions, and nurturing their professional success" (from the election citation). In 2021 he received the SIAM John von Neumann Prize "in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the numerical solution of partial differential equations. His work on finite difference essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) methods, weighted ENO (WENO) methods, finite element discontinuous Galerkin methods, and spectral methods has had a major impact on scientific computing" (from the prize citation), see SIAM News Blog. Also in 2021 he was bestowed an Honorary University Fellowship by the Hong Kong Baptist University. In 2021 he was elected to serve in the SIAM Board of Trustees (1/22-12/27). In 2022 he was ranked #11 in the world and #8 in the United States in the Research.com 2022 Edition of the Ranking of Top 1000 Scientists in Mathematics. In 2023 he was selected as a recipient of a Brown Distinguished Research Achievement Award. In 2025 he was awarded the Frontiers of Science Award by the International Congress of Basic Science. In 2026 he was awarded The 2025 Hua Prize by the International Consortium of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM).
Hyperbolic equations are used extensively in applications including fluid dynamics, astrophysics, electro-magnetism, semi-conductor devices, and biological sciences. High order accurate numerical methods are efficient for solving such partial differential equations, however they are difficult to design because solutions may contain discontinuities. In this talk we will survey several types of high order numerical methods for such problems, including weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite difference and finite volume methods, discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods, and spectral methods. We will discuss essential
ingredients, properties and relative advantages of each method, and provide comparisons among these methods. Recent development and applications of these methods will also be discussed.
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For more information, please contact Narin Seraydarian by phone at (626)517-6580 or by email at [email protected].
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