Talks & workshops
For me, the most valuable scientific meetings are focused workshops: small groups leave room to test unfinished ideas, compare unexpected observations, and let discussion change the direction of the work.
Invited workshop contributions
FEB 2026 MFO OBERWOLFACH · INVITED WORKSHOP CONTRIBUTION
Odd behavior of even geometries
Numerical Analysis for Geometric and Nonlinear PDEs
Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, Germany · 1–6 February 2026
The talk started from a recurring numerical observation: sometimes a method converges better than we can prove. In our surface finite-element experiments, the unexplained improvement depended on whether the polynomial order of the discrete geometry was even or odd. I presented our attempt to identify the cancellation mechanism and the mesh structure that makes this superconvergence possible—work that became the preprint Odd behaviour of even geometries.
The discussion was unusually productive. Other participants pointed to settings in which they had encountered similar parity effects and connected our observations to mesh-dependent superconvergence. The workshop gave us both new context and the momentum to finish the paper.
OCT 2025 BERNOULLI CENTER, EPFL · INVITED WORKSHOP CONTRIBUTION
Structure-preserving schemes for mean curvature flow and surface diffusion
Frontiers in Numerical Methods for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations
Lausanne, Switzerland · 8–10 October 2025
I presented our higher-order isoparametric finite-element methods for mean-curvature flow and surface diffusion: unconditionally energy-stable schemes with good mesh quality, including a surface-diffusion method that exactly conserves enclosed volume. The talk was based on Isoparametric finite element methods for mean curvature flow and surface diffusion.
A particularly interesting discussion with Patrick Farrell connected our construction to a much more general auxiliary-variable framework for enforcing exact conservation laws and dissipation inequalities. The relation has since become concrete in joint work by Ganghui Zhang, Boris Andrews, and Patrick Farrell on arbitrary-order structure-preserving discretizations for geometric curvature flows.
Workshop · General framework · Subsequent geometric-flow preprint
Invited minisymposium contributions
JUL 2022 SCICADE · REYKJAVÍK
A parametric finite-element discretization of the surface Stokes equations
This was an early presentation of our surface Stokes work. The discretization error analysis was already complete, while the general macro-element argument for lifting inf–sup stability from flat to curved domains was still under development.
The minisymposium was important beyond the talk itself. Conversations with Sara Zahedi about curvature approximation and with Evan Gawlik about Gaussian-curvature approximation using Regge finite elements helped sharpen questions about how geometry should be represented in surface PDE discretizations.
JUN 2022 PRECOND · CHEMNITZ
An efficient numerical framework for the phase-field crystal equation and its amplitude expansion
I presented solver and adaptivity ideas developed during my doctoral work: finite-element formulations for phase-field crystal models, a problem-specific block preconditioner, and adaptive resolution driven by the local crystal orientation.
Meeting researchers whose books and work I had taught—including Yousef Saad—and encountering Erin Carson’s research on mixed-precision solvers made the meeting particularly inspiring. I did not continue the thesis topic itself, but its central lesson remains part of my work: linear solvers and preconditioners should be designed around the structure of the problem.
Earlier and additional presentations
Selected workshops, conferences, and seminars, 2011–2026
- 2026 · Dresden, Germany — Surface Minkowski tensors, Workshop on Mathematics of Thin Material Structures.
- 2024 · Klinovec, Czech Republic — Closed Curves on Surfaces: Shape, Distances, Curvature, Elongation, Stretching, Scientific Computing and Numerics Organized Winter Seminar.
- 2023 · Dresden, Germany — Dune-Tensor - A general tensor implementation for Dune, Dune User-Meeting
- 2023 · Freiberg, Germany — A Parametric Finite-Element Discretization of the Surface Stokes Equations, Seminar at TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
- 2022 · Regensburg, Germany — Tangential Errors of Tensor Surface Finite Elements, Workshop on PDEs for Surfaces and Interfaces.
- 2021 · Börgeende, Germany — Hierarchic Finite Elements, Scientific Computing and Numerics Organized Winter Seminar.
- 2020 · Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic — Parallel transport on curved Riemannian manifolds, Scientific Computing and Numerics Organized Winter Seminar.
- 2019 · Dresden, Germany — Scientific Computing in Containers, Container Meetup.
- 2018 · Knoxville, Tennessee, USA — From Individual Motion to Collective Cell Migration, Seminar at UT.
- 2018 · Berlin, Germany — From Individual Motion to Collective Cell Migration, WIAS.
- 2018 · Munich, Germany — A Quasi-Incompressible Navier–Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard Model for Large Density Contrasts, GAMM Annual Meeting.
- 2017 · Umeå, Sweden — A Multi-Mesh Approach for Collective Migration, eXtended Discretization MethodS.
- 2017 · Heidelberg, Germany — Dune-DEC - A Dune Discrete Exterior Calculus module, Dune User-Meeting.
- 2017 · Dresden, Germany — Active Crystals on the Sphere, DPG Spring Meeting.
- 2016 · Crete, Greece — Simulation of Fluid Penetration in Printing Processes, ECCOMAS Congress.
- 2014 · Udine, Italy — A Continuous Model for Active Colloidal Suspensions, CISM workshop on Flowing Soft Matter.
- 2013 · Cambridge, UK — The Liquid-Crystal Phase-Field-Crystal Model, Isaac Newton Institute.
- 2012 · Singapore — Structure and Dynamics of Interfaces Between Two Coexisting Liquid-Crystalline Phases, Multiscale Materials Modeling poster exhibition.
- 2011 · Kraków, Poland — Applications of Phase-Field and Phase-Field-Crystal Models in Biological and Physical Systems, ECMTB.
The research behind many of these presentations is described on the selected publications page →