Hi, I’m Faranak 👋

I’m a fifth-year PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the Computational Applied Science Laboratory (CASL) at UC Santa Barbara, where I also completed a concurrent M.S. in Computer Science. My research interests lie at the intersection of computational physics, high-performance computing, and multiscale modeling, with applications to complex biological systems.

Currently, I’m developing a multiscale continuum framework for protein aggregation in high-concentration biotherapeutic formulations. This work bridges molecular-scale protein dynamics with continuum PDEs to predict long-term stability of therapeutic proteins using level-set methods, adaptive mesh refinement, and parallel computing. I also work on stochastic optimal control of neural oscillators with applications to Parkinson’s disease.

Prior to my PhD, I obtained my B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran. I’m also passionate about teaching scientific computing, having instructed 1000+ students, and offer consulting in computational methods and programming.

Please feel free to reach out if our work or interests align! Schedule a meeting or email me.

On the Job Market 🎯

I’m actively seeking positions in computational science, scientific software development, and applied mathematics. If my profile aligns with opportunities at your organization, I’d love to connect!

📣 News

• [July 2026]: Our paper Beyond Phase Reduction: Amplitude Collapse in Optimal Control of Coupled Oscillators was accepted to IEEE CDC 2026 in Honolulu, HI! 🎉

• [June 2026]: Presented Solving Advection-Diffusion-Reaction Equations with Robin Boundary Conditions on Piecewise Smooth Interfaces at the 20th U.S. National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNCTAM) in Pasadena, CA, in the symposium on Scientific Machine Learning and GPU/Exascale Computing for Multiphysics Simulation.

• [June 2026]: Completed my M.S. in Computer Science at UCSB. 🎓

• [May 2026]: Awarded the UCSB Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship (2026–27), a campus-wide competitive fellowship awarded by faculty review committees across all departments. 🎓

• [May 2026]: Featured in the Daily Nexus alongside other UCSB Iranian graduate students on the indefinite pause of OPT processing — a policy now blocking thousands of international students from post-graduation employment in the U.S. [Article]

• [May 2026]: Defended my M.S. thesis Algorithmic Limits in Optimal Control: A Computational and Statistical Study in Computer Science at UCSB! [Slides]

• [May 2026]: Our paper Solving Advection-Diffusion-Reaction Equations with Robin Boundary Conditions on Piecewise Smooth Interfaces is now available as a preprint on SSRN! [Preprint]

• [February 2026]: Excited to share that I’ll be joining as a Software Engineering Intern in Sunnyvale, CA! 🎉

• [November 2025]: Our paper CASL-HJX: A Comprehensive Guide to Solving Deterministic and Stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi Equations was published in Computer Physics Communications! [Paper] [Code]

• [October 2025]: Our paper Magnitude-Constrained Optimal Chaotic Desynchronization of Neural Populations was published in Frontiers in Network Physiology! [Paper]

• [October 2025]: Our paper Nearly Optimal Chaotic Desynchronization of Neural Oscillators was accepted to IEEE CDC 2025! [Preprint]

• [May 2025]: Presented at SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems in Denver, CO.

• [March 2025]: Our paper Optimal Control for Stochastic Neural Oscillators was published in Biological Cybernetics! [Paper]

• [December 2024]: Passed my PhD candidacy exam! 🎓 [Slides]

• [September 2023]: Started concurrent Master’s degree in Computer Science at UCSB.

• [June 2023]: Poster received 3rd place award at AAAS Pacific Division Conference in San Diego! 🏆

• [May 2023]: Passed my secondary PhD screening exam in Dynamical Systems, Robotics and Control (DSRC)!

• [November 2022]: Passed my primary PhD screening exam in Computational Science and Engineering (CSE)!

• [January 2022]: Started PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara.

• [July 2021]: Graduated with B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran.