Tomas Virgen

Institution/Organization: University of California, Merced

Department: Physics

Academic Status: Undergraduate Student

What conference theme areas are you interested in (check all that apply):

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for science and engineering;
Applications in science, engineering, and industry;
Data assimilation, challenges in data science, math of AI and ML;
Education and interdisciplinary programs in CSE;
High-performance computing, emerging architectures and programming paradigms;
Inverse problems, optimization, and uncertainty quantification;
Multiscale, multiphysics, and multilevel methods;
Quantum algorithms, quantum computation, and quantum information science

Interests: 

Broadly speaking, my main field of interest in mathematical physics. I am currently conducting research in the field of applied mathematics with Dr. Arnold Kim as part of the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) summer program at UC Merced. Specifically, we are studying time-dependent scattering problems and ways of facilitating the numerical analysis of such problems. Moreover, I am also interested in galactic astrophysics. I am currently a part of Dr. Sarah Loebman’s research group on galaxy simulations; I will begin active research with them in the fall.

Non-Work Related Activities/Interests: 

A non-work-related interest of mine is the game of chess; I find it to be an excellent way to keep my mind sharp. I am currently the co-president of the UC Merced chess club. As for community outreach, I worked as an instructor for the Bobcat Summer STEM Academy. This was a week-long summer class in which I, along with two other undergraduate instructors, taught basic physics to middle schoolers from the central valley.