New Professorship in Applied Mathematics: André Schlichting

We welcome Prof. Dr. André Schlichting to the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science and to the Cluster of Excellence Mathematics Münster. He took up a professorship in Applied Mathematics in November. His research topics include partial differential equations and numerical as well as stochastic analysis. The research questions he works on touch on thermodynamics, diffusion processes, chemical reactions, machine learning and variational methods.

His research concentrates on the qualitative description of the dynamic behaviour of complex systems and is often motivated by a background in physics or engineering. "This might be a mathematical battery model, or droplet formation in chemical-physical reaction kinetics", André Schlichting, 35, explains. Within his analytical work his interest is in (partial) differential equations and variational calculus. At the interface with stochastic analysis he researches into particle systems and their many-particle limits, with special attention to models which can show phase transitions and metastable behaviour.

His academic roots are at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (TU Bergakademie Freiberg), where he studied Applied Mathematics. Since then, he has always been active at the interface between mathematics and its applications in the natural sciences – as, for example, with his PhD, which he obtained at the Max Planck Institute of Mathematics in Natural Sciences in Leipzig, as well as in his postdoc phase at the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bonn and at the Chair of Partial Differential Equations, Variational Calculus and Mathematical Methods in Physics at RWTH Aachen University.

André Schlichting sees the semester he spent in Pavia, Italy, as a special turning point in his career. "The discussions with students and lecturers from all over the world were totally inspiring," he says. "Although we spoke different languages, we were all able to communicate through the common 'language' of mathematics, and I found that fascinating. It was there, too, that I decided that I wanted to continue my career in the direction of research."

Now, in Münster, André Schlichting would like to set up his own research group and – in line with the Cluster’s motto, "Bridging the gaps" – contribute his interdisciplinary view of problems and questions to the various key areas of research. He is happy with the way things have begun in the Faculty and in the Cluster, although it would certainly have been more pleasant and easier without the coronavirus pandemic. "I already knew some of my new colleagues from conferences and collaborations, so we had some common ground straight away." And he and his family have already put down roots in Münster. "Our two children have settled in very well at kindergarten and school," he says.

Link:
Prof. Dr. André Schlichting: personal website and contact information