MPS-Ascend: Structure-Preserving Algorithms and Their Applications in Plasma Physics

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). PI Allen Alvarez Loya is awarded a National Science Foundation Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and activities related to broadening participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Alvarez Loya supports the research project entitled "MPS-Ascend: Structure-preserving algorithms and their applications in plasma physics", under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Qi Tang.In this project PI Alvarez Loya will consider two approaches to developing highly efficient and accurate algorithms which preserve important physical or mathematical structures in numerical simulations. The first approach is a divergence-free scalable MHD solver. The second approach is based on structure-preserving NNs for parameterized Hamiltonian systems. The critical piece of the proposed work is a parameterized symplectic neural network that has a provable approximation property significantly generalizing previous work in the area. To broaden participation in MPS fields, the PI brings his own experience as a participating student in programs such as University of Colorado's BOLD (Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity) program and California State University's PUMP (Preparing Undergraduates Through Mentoring towards PhDs) as well as a substantial track record in mentoring students from under-represented minority groups. Along with the sponsoring scientist Dr. Tang, the PI will co-mentor undergraduate and graduate students at LANL.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.