The brown bag seminar is a weekly meeting organized by and for graduate students. The goal of the brown bag seminar is to encourage students to practice presenting their research among fellow students in a casual setting.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 1:00 pm
Applied Math Graduate Student Brown Bag Seminar
Speaker
Edward McDugald
Title:
Patterns, Phase, and Coarse Descriptions
Abstract:
This talk will explore how complicated dynamical behavior can often be understood through simpler “coarse” descriptions, in which fast oscillations or fine spatial structure are summarized by a few slowly varying variables. I will draw on examples involving nonlinear oscillators and stripe-forming systems to illustrate how notions like phase, local wavevector, and defect structure emerge, and how they can be connected to both analysis and computation. The emphasis will be on pictures and intuition rather than technical detail, with the exact balance of examples adjusted to the interests of the audience.