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Christopher J. Earls

J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Christopher J. Earls
Christopher J. Earls
Graduate Field Affiliations
Applied Information Systems
Applied Mathematics
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Computational Science and Engineering (minor)
Mathematics
Physics
Systems Engineering
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Biography

Earls’ research involves the development and application of new computational techniques for the study of important problems involving solids and structures, as well as other natural and engineered systems. Coupling the principled treatment of uncertainty with these computational approaches facilitates the solution of complex inverse problems. Such inverse problems arise naturally as part of Earls’ research.

Earls is a faculty member in the Complex Systems and Engineering concentration. He is interested in Scientific Artificial Intelligence (SciAI) and Inverse Problems.

Research Interests

Earls’ research is concerned with developing novel mathematical and computational approaches that enable deep understanding of natural and engineered systems. Practical challenges involving the principled treatment of uncertainty, sparse sensing, and intrinsic complexity are motivational to his work.

The intellectual themes that underpin his research are applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing. Problems of interest to Earls occur within the domains of engineering and applied science.

  • Computer Aided Diagnosis
  • Scientific Computing
  • Complex Systems, Network Science and Computation

Teaching Interests

Earls teaches course on mathematical modeling and inverse problems.

Service Interests

Earls is a lifetime member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Select Publications

  • Earls, Christopher J., R. Sternfels. 2013.“Reduced order model tracking and interpolation to solve PDE-based inverse problems.”Inverse Problems29: 075014.

  • Fountoulakis, V., C Earls. 2016.“Inverting for Maritime Environments Using Proper Orthogonal Bases From Sparsely Sampled Electromagnetic Propagation Data.”IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing54(12): 7166-7176.

  • Aquino, Wilkins, J. C. Brigham, Christopher J. Earls, N. Sukumar. 2009.“Generalized finite element method using proper orthogonal decomposition.”International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering79(7): 887-906.

  • Reed, H M., C J Earls. 2015.“Stochastic identification of the structural damage condition of a ship bow section under model uncertainty.”Ocean Engineering103(Elsevier): 123-143.

  • Loeb, A., C Earls. 2016.“Optimized inspection design for the thermographic characterization of sub-pixel sized through cracks.”NDT & E International82: 44-55.

Google Scholar

Select Awards and Honors

  • Outstanding Young Alumni Award (The Charles E. Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech) 2004
  • Outstanding Professor of the Year Award (American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section) 2001
  • James and Mary Tien Excellence in Teaching Award(Cornell University College of Engineering) 2016
  • Peter S. Michie Outstanding Teacher Award (West Point) 1998
  • Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (Oak Ridge Associated Universities) 2000

Education

  • B.S. (Civil Engineering), Virginia Tech 1990
  • M.S. (Civil Engineering), Virginia Tech 1992
  • Ph.D. (Civil Engineering), University of Minnesota 1995