Biography
I am a mathematician working in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Limerick (UL). I obtained an MSc (Italian Laura) in Mathematics from the Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK. Following my PhD, I worked as a Research Fellow at the Università degli Studi di Trieste, followed by a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at UL. I am currently an associate professor (senior lecturer) in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UL, where I also serve as the Director for Postgraduate studies, Course Director for the MSc in Mathematical Modelling, and the Research Representative for the Department in the Science and Engineering Faculty Research Committee. At UL, I am a member of the Health Research Institute (HRI) and was a funded investigator of CONFIRM, the SFI centre for smart manufacturing. I serve on the committee of the Irish Mathematical Society (IMS), where I was appointed Chair of the 'Irish Committee for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Mathematics (ICEDIM)', formed in 2022. I was appointed Vice-Chair of the Royal Irish Academy 'Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Committee' for the term 2022-2026. I am involved in the promotion of gender balance in STEM also internationally. I am currently one of the two country coordinators for Ireland in the European Women in Mathematics (EWM) organisation and the Irish ambassador for the International Mathematical Union (IMU) Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM).Research Interests
My research area is in inverse problems, partial differential equations and their applications to imaging and material properties identification. Inverse problems are employed to identify physical properties of materials that cannot be directly observed. These are the model parameters and are very often the coefficients of a partial differential equation describing the model.The material under investigation is typically probed with an electromagnetic field that interacts with the material according to the governing equation describing the model. This interaction is measured and used to determine the material properties/ inhomogeneities in the material (data inversion). Examples of inhomogeneities include an oil or geothermal reservoir in the subsurface of the Earth, a tumour in the human body or a crack/defect in a material. Inverse problems have indeed wide applications in geophysics, medical imaging, nondestructive testing, radar, acoustics, signal processing, machine learning, etc. The study of inverse problems is a very active area of modern applied mathematics and one of the most interdisciplinary field of science.
My research in inverse problems has focused on Earth exploration and medical imaging to date. She received in 2016 a visiting scientist funding award by the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (INDAM) for a research collaboration with the inverse problems group at the Università degli Studi of Trieste, Italy and was one of the principal investigators of the American Institute of Mathematics (AIMS) grant SQuaREs to develop new seismic imaging algorithms in San Jose, California.
Upcoming events I am co-organising:
ICEDIM Women in Mathematics Day, May 10, 2024, University of Limerick.
Recent events I have co-organised:
- INI Semester programme "Rich and nonlinear tomography: a multi-disciplinary approach", Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, U.K. https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/rnt/
- INI Workshop "Synergistic workshop on Rich and Nonlinear tomography aimed at drawing together all strands of both methods and applications with new insights," Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, U.K., June 19-23, 2023. https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/rntw04/ Deadline for applications March 20, 2023.
- International Summer School on Inverse Problems in Geophysics, Lake Como School of Advanced Studies, September 18-22, 2023 (website under construction).
- Irish Mathematical Society annual meeting, University of Limerick, August 31 - September 1, 2023.
Recent invited talks/scientific visits:
- Invited speaker at the mini-symposium "Uniqueness and stability in inverse problems for partial differential equations", international conference "Applied Inverse Problems (AIP) 2023", Georg-August Universitat Gottingen, Germany, September 4-8, 2023.
- Invited speaker at the mini-symposium "Inverse problems with anisotropy", international conference "Applied Inverse Problems (AIP) 2023", Georg-August Universitat Gottingen, Germany, September 4-8, 2023.
- Invited speaker at the international conference "Inverse problems in the Desert", New York University Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., December 19-22, 2022.
- Keynote speaker at the "9th Annual SIAM Student Chapter Conference", University of Galway, Ireland, December 9, 2022.
- Invited speaker at the "SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundation of Data Science", Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland, December 5-9, 2022.
- Invited speaker at the international workshop "Solvers for frequency-domain wave problems and applications", Strathckyde University, Glasgow, U.K., June 20-25, 2022.
- Invited speaker at the mini-symposium "Microlocal concepts for imaging by waves", Conference on Mathematics of Wave Phenomena, February 18-22, 2022, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
- Invited speaker at the international mini-symposium "Inverse problems for PDEs: from analysis to applications", Biennial Conference of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society, Diudad Real, Spain, January 17-21, 2022.
Professional Activities
Award
- 2023 - Simons Foundation Fellowship, University of Cambridge
- 2022 - UL President's Research Excellence and Impact Awards - Outstanding Research Collaboration Award
Employment
- 2013 University of Limerick - Lecturer above the bar in applied mathematics
- 2008 University of Limerick - Lecturer below the bar in Applied Mathematics
- 2004 University of Limerick - Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow
- 2003 Universita' degli Studi di Trieste - Post-Doctoral Researcher
Education
- 2004 University of Manchester (UMIST) - PhD
- 1999 Universita`degli Studi di Trieste - BSc; MSc
Language
- Italian
- English
Association
- Committee member, Irish Mathematical Society (IMS)
- member, European Mathematical Society (EMS)
- member, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
- member and country coordinator for Ireland, European Women in Mathematics (EWM)
- Ambassador for Ireland, IMU Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM)
- member, Health Research Institute (HRI), University of Limerick
- Funded investigator, CONFIRM SFI centre for smart manufacturing
- Member, SIAM Activity Group on Imaging Science
- Member, Inverse Problems International Association (IPIA)
- Founding Member, EMS Topical Activity Group on Inverse Problems
Outreach
Committee
- UL Science and Engineering Research Committee,
- UL Athena Swan "Career development and support (Academics)",
- UL "Ethnic Diversity Forum",
- Irish Committee for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Mathematics,
- Royal Irish Academy "Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Committee",