Shaowu Pan

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About

Shaowu Pan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He leads the Computational Scientific Machine Learning Lab and is affiliated with the Rensselaer–IBM Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration. Pan received his B.E. in Aerospace Engineering and B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Beihang University (2013), and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan (2021). Prior to joining RPI, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the AI Institute in Dynamic Systems at the University of Washington. His research focuses on scientific machine learning, operator-theoretic modeling, and generative/agentic AI for accelerating CFD and related large-scale simulation workflows, with applications that also extend to clean-energy challenges such as hydrogen sensing and diagnostics.

Education & Training
  • Postdoctoral Scholar (Applied Mathematics; AI Institute in Dynamic Systems), University of Washington, Seattle, 2021–2022
  • Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, 2021
  • M.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2015
  • B.S. in Applied Mathematics & B.E. in Aerospace Engineering, Beihang University, 2013
Other affililations: Future of Computing Institute (FOCI), Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC), Center for Smart Convergent Manufacturing Systems (CSCMS)

Research

My research develops scientific machine learning and operator-theoretic (Koopman) methods for modeling and control of large-scale nonlinear systems, with a focus on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and reduced-order modeling. Recent work explores LLM/agent-based tools that automate OpenFOAM simulation workflows and benchmarks for evaluating LLM performance on CFD tasks.

Primary Research Focus
Scientific Machine Learning, Reduced Order Modeling, Agentic AI
Other Focus Areas
  • Data-driven dynamical systems & control (operator-theoretic / Koopman methods)
  • Turbulence Modeling

Recognition

Awards & Honors
  • The Trustee Celebration of Faculty Achievement, RPI, 2025
  • Google Research Scholar Program, 2025
  • Chinese Outstanding Student Abroad Award (Ministry of Education of China), 2021
  • MICDE Fellowship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2019
  • Richard & Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research (Department nominee, University of Michigan), 2019

Publications

The following is a selection of recent publications in Scopus. Shaowu Pan has 25 indexed publications in the subjects of Engineering, Engineering, Mathematics.

Shahriar Akbar Sakib, Shaowu Pan
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
, 34
, 2026
, pp.139-153
.
Qiyun Cheng, Md Hossain Sahadath, Huihua Yang, Shaowu Pan, Wei Ji
Progress in Nuclear Energy
, 188
, 2025
.
Nithin Somasekharan, Shaowu Pan
Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences
, 481
, 2025
.
Hossain Sahadath, Qiyun Cheng, Shaowu Pan, Wei Ji
Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering M and C 2025
, 2025
, pp.742-751
.
Shaowu Pan, Karthik Duraisamy
Nonlinear Dynamics
, 112
, 2024
, pp.10157-10165
.
Byoungchan Jang, Alan A. Kaptanoglu, Rahul Gaur, Shaowu Pan, Matt Landreman, William Dorland
Physics of Plasmas
, 31
, 2024
.
Soha Yusuf, Jason Hicken, Shaowu Pan
AIAA Aviation Forum and Ascend 2024
, 2024
.
Shaowu Pan, Ozgur Tumuklu
AIAA Aviation Forum and Ascend 2024
, 2024
.
Shaowu Pan, Steven L. Brunton, J. Nathan Kutz
Journal of Machine Learning Research
, 24
, 2023
.

View All Scopus Publications

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