The history and role of computing will be the focus of the first of two addresses on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 20 and 21, through the Gentile Interdisciplinary Lecture series in the natural and applied sciences at Hope College by Dr. Andrew Christlieb of the Michigan State University faculty.
Christlieb is chair of the university’s Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, and an MSU Foundation Professor in the Department of Mathematics. He will present “History of Computing and Its Role in Society” on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. in room 102 of VanderWerf Hall, and “Paradigm Shifts in Parallel Computing for Implicit Methods” on Friday, Oct. 21, at 3 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall. The public is invited to both events, and admission is free.
Christlieb has an active research group, focusing on multi-scale modeling, high order numerical methods and sub-linear lossy compression algorithms. He is currently advising three postdocs and 10 students. His former Ph.D. students have gone on to work at national labs, industry and in academia.
He has been a member of the faculty at Michigan State University since 2006. He was promoted to associate professor in 2010 and professor in 2014, and was named an MSU Foundation Professor in 2015.
Christlieb received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. Upon completing his Ph.D., he took a postdoc in the Aerospace Department at the University of Michigan with Iain Boyd, working on the simulation of micro air foils. He then transitioned to a postdoc in the Mathematics Department at the University of Michigan, where he worked with Robert Krasny on the development of mesh-free methods for plasma simulations.
Since 2004, he has worked very closely with the RDHE group at the Air Force research labs on the development of new methods for particle simulations of plasmas. In 2006, he was awarded a summer faculty fellowship from the Air Force to work with AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory) Edwards on modeling of electric pupation. In 2007, he received the Air Force Young Investigator Award for his work on the development of novel methods for simulating plasmas. From 2008 to 2012, Christlieb was an IPA (Intergovernmental Personnel Act) appointee for the directed energy group at Kirtland Air Force Base.
The Gentile Interdisciplinary Lectureship at Hope was established in 2005 by faculty colleagues, former students and friends of Dr. James Gentile. Gentile joined the Hope faculty in 1976 and served as dean for the natural and applied sciences from 1988 to 2005, when he became president of Research Corporation, a private foundation in Tucson, Arizona, that supports basic research in the physical sciences. After retiring from Research Corporation, he returned to Hope to serve a two-year appointment as dean from July 2013 through June 2015.
The lectureship is supported by a multi-year grant from the Kavli Foundation of Oxnard, California, to bring prominent scientists to campus.
Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets. VanderWerf Hall is located at 27 Graves Place, between 10th Street and Graves Place and Central and College avenues.