UT SIAM Chapter Event Coordinator Awarded 2024 Student Certificate

Graham Pash, a Ph.D. CSEM student at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences is the 2024 recipient of the SIAM Student Chapter Certificate, awarded in recognition of a student’s service and contributions. Pash serves as the local chapter’s event coordinator, supporting students interested in applied mathematics across a wide range of experience levels. Student chapters operate under the umbrella of the larger Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics organization.

“I've met some of the kindest and smartest people I know through SIAM - it’s the society that students in the field of computational sciences should be drawn to,” shared Pash. “There is a tremendous amount of effort put into supporting early career researchers and their conferences are extremely relevant.” Pash is pursuing his research with the Willcox Research Group under Karen Willcox, director of the Oden Institute.

Pash’s work with the SIAM chapter has focused on giving students access to the broad, interdisciplinary field of applied mathematics. “I am most proud that we were able to fund four teams of undergraduates to compete in the COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling,” said Pash, who credits his experience at COMAP as a high school student with his choice to double major in applied mathematics when he began his bachelor's degree.

“I hope that participating in those competitions helps open interested undergraduates' eyes to how powerful mathematical modeling can be and encourages them to consider a career in the computational sciences.”

At the Oden Institute, Pash’s research interests focus on the fields of uncertainty quantification, scientific machine learning, high performance computing, and digital twins. In collaboration with the Center for Computational Oncology, he works on methods to better inform patient-specific models for the treatment of solid tumors. Pash has also spent two summers interning at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, developing methods to characterize uncertainty in turbulent reacting flows, in order to better understand the dynamics of sustainable aviation fuels. 

The UT Austin SIAM Chapter, which was founded in 2008, typically meets biweekly. For more information about the group and to join, follow the link here. SIAM student chapters promote applied mathematics and computational science to young mathematicians and scientists around the world.