5th IMA Conference on Nonlinearity and Coherent Structures

Professor Wooyoung Choi

Professor of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Wooyoung Choi is a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in USA. He received his PhD from Caltech in 1993 and held positions at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Michigan before he joined NJIT. His research focuses on nonlinear water waves, hydrodynamic stability, and free surface hydrodynamics with geophysical applications. 

Professor Vera Hur

Professor of Mathematics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Vera Mikyoung Hur is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she served as Department Chair from 2021 to 2026. Her research lies at the intersection of applied analysis, nonlinear partial differential equations, and fluid dynamics. Combining rigorous analysis, numerical computation, and mathematical modeling, she studies surface water waves and related wave phenomena, with particular emphasis on genuinely nonlinear behavior such as breaking, peaking, and instability. Her recent work also incorporates computer-assisted proofs and artificial intelligence.

Hur received her PhD from Brown University and completed her postdoctoral training at MIT. Her honors include an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, and a Simons Fellowship in Mathematics. She delivered an invited plenary address at the 4th IMA Conference on Nonlinearity and Coherent Structures in 2021. Most recently, she joined the editorial board of the IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics as an Associate Editor.

Professor Zhan Wang

Special-Term Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS)

Dr. Zhan Wang is a Professor and Deputy Director at the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS). He also serves as a Special-Term Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and a member of the Asian Fluid Mechanics Committee. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2012 and subsequently held positions at University College London and the University of Bath before joining IMCAS. His research focuses on wave phenomena in fluids, with specialized interests in nonlinear water waves, geophysical fluid dynamics, and fluid-structure interactions