Beyond the Bytes: Dr. Divya E. Vernerey on From Smoke to Flame: A Journey into Travelling Waves

Please join us for the CS Undergraduate Speaker Series - Beyond the Bytes

Abstract: What happens when you blow out a candle and then touch a flame to the stream of smoke rising from the wick? Surprisingly, the flame can travel downwards through the smoke and relight the candle. What looks like a bit of magic is actually a beautiful example of transport, combustion, and propagating fronts.

In this talk, we will follow the journey of the combustible material left behind after the candle is extinguished. Convection carries fuel through the air, while heat and chemical reactions create conditions under which combustion can propagate. We will use simple differential equations to model this process, beginning with the advection equation and gradually introducing reaction and heat transport.

Along the way, we will see how a simple candle experiment opens the door to partial differential equations, nonlinear reaction fronts, and the mathematics of traveling flames.

Speaker Bio: Divya E. Vernerey is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University in Evanston, with a specialization in reaction-diffusion partial differential equations and their analytical and numerical solutions. Her teaching interests include differential equations, numerical analysis, algorithms, and the mathematical ideas underlying computation. Dr. Vernerey is the CS Director of Undergraduate Research and has led numerous undergraduate research projects in Math and Computer Science. She has developed a passion for exploring the connections between mathematics, computer science, and art, and for transforming these interdisciplinary intersections into engaging learning experiences for students.