Merlin Pelz

Welcome to my personal website! I'm a Dunham Jackson (postdoctoral) assistant professor in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Before my current position, I earned my Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at the University of British Columbia, advised by Prof. Michael J. Ward and Prof. Daniel Coombs. In my work, I'm focusing on further developing mathematical biology with nonlinear dynamics, asymptotic analysis and (S)PDE theory. Specifically, I have been working on the emergence of spatio-temporal symmetry-breaking and synchronization in compartmental-reaction diffusion systems.

Short CV

Employment

YearEmployerPosition
2024 – nowUniversity of Minnesota, Twin CitiesDunham Jackson Assistant Professor

Education

Further Research & Work Experience

Research

Here is a selection of figures to my research. For the corresponding developed theory, please go to the tab Publications. The figures for the 1-D domain were created with Julia, the steady-state figures for the 2-D domain with FlexPDE, and the oscillatory figures for the 2-D domain with our fast accurate marching scheme algorithm in Fortran and Julia. Intracellular kinetics used are FitzHugh-Nagumo, Gierer-Meinhardt, Rauch-Millonas, and Sel'kov reaction kinetics.

Publications

Articles

2024

  • Synchronized Memory-Dependent Intracellular Oscillations for a Cell-Bulk ODE-PDE Model in ℝ² by M. P. & Michael J. Ward

2023

  • Symmetry-Breaking Bifurcations for Compartmental Reaction Kinetics Coupled by Two Bulk Diffusing Species with Comparable Diffusivities in 2-D by M. P. & Michael J. Ward

  • The Emergence of Spatial Patterns for Compartmental Reaction Kinetics Coupled by Two Bulk Diffusing Species with Comparable Diffusivities by M. P. & Michael J. Ward

  • A δf PIC Method with Forward-Backward Lagrangian Reconstructions by Martin Campos Pinto & M. P. & Pierre-Henri Tournier

Talks

2024

  • CAIMS Annual Meeting: invited talk
    Title: The Analysis and Simulation of Memory-Dependent Oscillations for a Cell-Bulk Model

  • SIAM LS24 Conference: contributed talk
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D

2023

  • SIAM PNW Conference: invited talk
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

  • SMB Annual Meeting: invited talk
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

  • Dynamical Systems in the Life Sciences: invited poster presentation
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

  • CAIMS Annual Meeting: invited talk
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

  • SIAM DS23: jumped in
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

  • UBC & University of Utah Mathematical Biology Seminar
    Title: The Emergence of Spatial Patterns with Diffusion-Coupled Compartments with Activator-Inhibitor Kinetics in 1-D and 2-D

Teaching

YearCourseRole
2024Linear Algebra & Differential EquationsInstructor (30 students, online section, no TA)
2023Calculus 2Small Class Instructor (4⋅60 students per week)
2022Differential Equations for Mechanical EngineersTutorial Leader (4⋅30 students per week)

Contact

For email contact, please use mpelz {at} umn.edu.