About me
Hi! I am David, a second-year Ph.D. student in Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE) at Michigan State University, advised by Prof. Jianliang Qian. Prior to MSU, I obtained my M.Phil. and B.Sc. in Mathematics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where I was supervised by Prof. Shingyu Leung. My research is supported by the Croucher Scholarship during my Ph.D. study.
My research goal is to employ various mathematical tools, such as differential equations, geometry, and probability theory, to develop efficient algorithms and novel frameworks that enhance our understanding of complex phenomena within the broad field of scientific computation.
Previously, we developed geodesic-based structure-preserving algorithms on manifolds, with applications to wavefront propagation on the spheres and computing the Lyapunov exponent of dynamical systems. We also investigated various meaningful metrics, beyond the Lyapunov exponent, to study coherent structures and designed efficient algorithms to extract these quantities.
A recent focus is on the inverse problem of mean-field games, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation on Wasserstein space and dynamical low-rank approximation.
Education
- Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, Michigan State University (2025–present)
- M.Phil. in Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2023–2025)
- B.Sc. in Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2019–2023)
Research Interests
My research focuses on computational and applied mathematics, with particular interests in:
- Numerical methods for differential equations on manifolds
- Visualization methods for dynamical systems
- Optimal control, Hamilton-Jacobi equations, mean-field games, and related inverse problems
Honors & Awards
- Croucher Scholarship (2025–2028), Croucher Foundation
- Honourable Mention, Best TA Award (2023–2024), HKUST
Contact
- Email: chauwai@msu.edu / wmchau@connect.ust.hk