Dr. David Padilla-Garza

David Padilla-Garza’s PhD dissertation in mathematics at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences focused on a problem addressed by others, but he offered a more comprehensive and innovative solution. He calculated the plate limit of a thin body whose geometry varies across the thin direction.  The topic is part of Dr. Padilla-Garza’s interest in the mechanical behavior of thin elastic structures, which he continued to explore in postdoctoral research in the Faculty of Mathematics at the Technische Universität Dresden, and at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria.

When his main project was essentially complete at Courant, Dr. Padilla-Garza became interested in another area: the statistical physics of interacting particle systems. Working with a different advisor, he researched several projects relating to Coulomb gases and their generalizations (systems with singular Riesz interactions).

For his postdoctoral research at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dr. Padilla-Garza focuses on applied analysis. He is particularly interested in problems that have mathematical depth and complexity, along with a meaningful application in the natural world. His interdisciplinary research on the calculus of variations applied to solid mechanics is well-suited to Hebrew University, where leading pure and applied mathematicians often collaborate with physicists.

Dr. Padilla-Garza notes that despite the attractive combination of deep challenges in mathematical analysis with applications in physics and engineering, interest in this field is currently greater in Europe and Israel than in North America. He hopes to develop it more in North America by creating a network of researchers who would extend its impact, eventually instructing a new generation of mathematicians.