In the spring semester of 2021, amidst the upheaval of remote education, the members of class 2.29 “Numerical Fluid Mechanics” navigated the challenges of online learning with grace and resilience. Led by their dedicated Professor Pierre Lermusiaux, supported by TA’s Aaron Charous and Corbin Foucart and administrative assistant Lisa Maxwell, the class embraced virtual tools to foster engagement and collaboration. Throughout the semester, they engaged actively in discussions and presentations using digital platforms. Despite the challenges of distance, the class maintained a sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm. During the final project presentations, Lisa’s ukulele performance added a memorable touch. Singing the lyrics she penned, Lisa’s song served as a heartfelt reminder of their shared journey through remote learning.

The 2.29 Song

Oh yeah we're 2.29
We had our whole class online
In the Spring of '21
Pierre taught twice a week
In a Zoom room he would speak
Can't believe the semester's gone!

Pierre buzzed like a bee
to keep us awake...THAT'S SO MIT!
Where were you at 11:35...?
Crank Nicholson's a finite
Dynamics you're dynamite
It's pahDAY (not PAHday)
you need to derive!

There were equations Euler
(that's quasilinear!),
Taylor Tables and fluid flow...
The first derivative? Give me a sedative!
Let me say (implicitly and explicitly)
where you can go!

That's right we're 2.29!
We had class all online
in the Spring of '21.
We learned lots and lots,
now we're dynamics Hot Shots!
Thanks for being so much fun!

Abhinav Gupta’s machine learning framework was highlighted by the Mechanical Engineering department in the article “Computing for Ocean Environments“. MSEAS work on using dynamical system models to make predictions for the ocean environment was illustrated in the article, explaining the new machine learning framework that helps make up for the lack of resolution or accuracy in ocean models.

Read more about the MIT-WHOI Joint program and the anniversary here.

Congratulations to Florian Feppon for being awarded the Médaille Louis-Édouard Rivot of the French Académie des Sciences. This is in recognition for the scientific research on “Design and optimization for Wear of Bi-Material Composite Surfaces” that he performed at Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) as a visiting research scholar, under the direction of Prof. Grégoire Allaire (Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées, École Polytechnique) and Prof. Vermaak (Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University).

Two papers by Sondergaard and Lermusiaux have been accepted for publication in Monthly Weather Review. These papers are on Data Assimilation with Gaussian Mixture Models using the Dynamically Orthogonal Field Equations. The first describes the theory and scheme, while the second discusses applications.

March 2010: Prof. Pierre Lermusiaux received an MIT School of Engineering teaching award, the “Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching”. This award is given to one faculty member each in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Nuclear Science and Engineering to acknowledge “the tradition of high quality engineering education at MIT”.

December 2009: Ms. Melissa Kaufman (a MechE undergraduate UROP student in our group) has been accepted as a PhD student at the Graduate School of Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island. Congratulations Melissa!

Prof. Pierre Lermusiaux co-chaired the workshop on Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment Conference: Quantifying, Predicting, Exploiting Uncertainties in Marine Environments at the NATO Undersea Research Center in Lerici, Italy