Charles Doering

Charles Doering is the Nicholas D Kazarinoff Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Mathematics and Physics and is the Director of the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. Professor Doering’s research is focused on the analysis of mathematical models with the aim of extracting reliable, rigorous, and useful predictions. These models range from stochastic, dynamical systems arising in biology, chemistry and physics, to systems of nonlinear partial differential equations such as those that (ostensibly) describe turbulent fluid flows. The techniques employed range from the development of exact solutions to the application of modern mathematical methods including rigorous estimation, careful numerical computations and simulations, and the use of abstract functional and probabilistic analysis --- often a combination of all three approaches.

Professor Doering received a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Antioch College, a Master’s in physics from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctorate in mathematical physics from The University of Texas at Austin. He held positions at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory and at Clarkson University prior to joining the Michigan faculty in 1996. Among other recognitions, Professor Doering has received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science & the Arts Excellence in Education Award, a Fulbright Scholarship, and a Humboldt Research Award. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. In 2014, Professor Doering was named a Simons Fellow in Theoretical Physics.

Selected Publications

Bounds on Surface Stress Driven Flows, (G. Hagstrom and C. R. Doering), Journal of Nonlinear Science 24, 185–199 (2014).

Computational Approaches to Aspect-ratio-dependent Upper Bounds and Heat Flux in Porous Medium Convection, (B. Wen, G. P. Chini, N. Dianti, and C. R. Doering), Physics Letters A 377, 2931-2948 (2013).

Features of Fast Living: On the Weak Selection for Longevity in Degenerate Birth-death Processes, (Y. T. Lin, H. Kim, and C. R. Doering), Journal of Statistical Physics 148, 646-662 (2012).

Optimal Mixing and Optimal Stirring for Fixed Energy, Fixed Power or Fixed Palenstrophy Flows, (Z. Lin, E. Lunasin, A. Novikov, A. Mazzucato, and C. R. Doering), Journal of Mathematical Physics 53, 115611, 15 pages (2012).

Rigid Rigorous Bounds on Heat Transport in a Slippery Container, (J. P. Whitehead and C. R. Doering), Journal of Fluid Mechanics 707, 241-259 (2012).

Field(s) of Study

• Mathematical Physics
• Applied Mathematics