Sara Zahedi (born 1981 in
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
)
is an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
-
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
who works in
computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...
and holds an associate professorship in
numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...
at the
Royal Institute of Technology
The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
(KTH) in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. She is one of ten winners and the only female winner of the
European Mathematical Society Prize for 2016 "for her outstanding research regarding the development and analysis of
numerical algorithms
Numerical may refer to:
* Number
* Numerical digit
* Numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distin ...
for
partial differential equations
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function.
The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to ...
with a focus on applications to problems with dynamically changing
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
". The topic of Zahedi's EMS Prize lecture was her recent research on the CutFEM method of solving
fluid dynamics
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...
problems with changing boundary geometry, such as arise when simulating the dynamics of systems of two immiscible liquids.
[Prize laureates](_blank)
7th Eur. Congress of Mathematics, July 18–22, 2016, retrieved 2016-07-26. This method combines
level set methods to represent the domain boundaries as cuts through an underlying uniform grid, together with numerical simulation techniques that can adapt to the complex geometries of grid cells cut by these boundaries.
When Zahedi was ten years old, with her father having been killed by the regime after the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
, her mother sent her on her own as a refugee to Sweden, and only rejoined her some years later.
[.][.] She was drawn to mathematics in part because she understood mathematics better than the Swedish language,
and to
fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them.
It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and bio ...
because of its real-world applications.
She earned a master's degree from KTH in 2006, and a doctorate in 2011;
her dissertation, ''Numerical Methods for Fluid Interface Problems'', was supervised by
Gunilla Kreiss
Gunilla Kreiss (born 1958) is a Swedish applied mathematician and numerical analyst specializing in level-set methods and numerical methods for partial differential equations, especially for problems arising in fluid dynamics including two-phase ...
.
''Numerical Methods for Fluid Interface Problems''
dissertations.se, retrieved 2016-07-26. After postdoctoral studies at Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
, she returned to KTH as an assistant professor in 2014.
Selected publications
*.
*.
References
External links
Home page
*
Blood, oil, and water
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahedi, Sara
1981 births
Living people
Iranian emigrants to Sweden
21st-century Swedish mathematicians
Women mathematicians
KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni
Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Swedish women academics