Hey there 👋! My name is Changxiao Shen (沈昶霄) but I go by Nigel. I am an SM → PhD student in the Center of Computational Science & Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), working with Prof. Wim van Rees in VanRees Lab. Before that, I was an undergrad at New York University (NYU) majoring Mathematics and minoring Computer Science, advised by Prof. Antoine Cerfon. Earlier on, I completed my high school at Hangzhou Foreign Languages School in Hangzhou, China.
I am interested in an interdisciplinary area among math, physics and engineering. I particularly enjoy working on the
numerical side of fluid dynamics & plasma science. Besides academics, I also love ⚽ football (Bayern Munich), 🎱 pool, 🚲 biking, and 🎸 indie music (indie pop / rock).
🖇️ Quick Links
📮 Contact:
✉️: shen827 at mit dot edu
📞: 917 378 2041
💡 Short Bio
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SM → PhD student in CSE-MechE, 2023-present
- New York University, Undergraduate student majoring Math with departmental honors, 2019-2023
- 🏆 Hollis Cooley Memorial Prize, NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Science, 2023
- 🏆 Meritorious Winner, Mathematical Contest in Modeling, 2022
- 🏆 Dean’s List, NYU Tandon School of Engineering / College of Arts & Science, 2019-2023
🔬 Research
I’ve been focusing on research about computational math and simulations. My undergrad honors project, guided by prof. Cerfon, was about simulating plasma using a numerical method called Particle-In-Cell. I also studied the propagation of sound wave with Dr. Sam Potter, and created an inverse-design algorithm for acoustic cloaking materials. Earlier on, I have tried other topics like quantum computing and even philosophy of science!
🛸 Projects
Current
Current
Past
Past
Free Space Particle-in-Fourier
plasma
numerical methods
physics
math
Feb 11, 2022 → Sep 2, 2023
The Eikonal Equation & Acoustic Cloaking
numerical methods
optimization
math
Sep 1, 2022 → Aug 31, 2023
physics
math
Apr 22, 2021 → Aug 31, 2021
physics
philosophy of science
May 23, 2020 → Jul 31, 2020
🗞️ Publications
- Changxiao Nigel Shen, Antoine Cerfon, Sriramkrishnan Muralikrishnan. A particle-in-Fourier method with energy conservation for non-periodic boundary conditions, arXiv:2403.13911, 2024
📝 Course Notes
I have been taking notes for my classes during my undergraduate studies. Please find a list of courses that I have taken along with my notes / course projects below.
🔍 Courses Taken
Notes
Notes
Projects
Projects
I have a bottom line…