McGill University — Mathematics & Statistics
Rustum Choksi
Professor & Department Chair
McGill University — Mathematics & Statistics
Professor & Department Chair
About
I am a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. I currently serve as the Department Chair.
I view myself as an applied mathematician. Though my training was in mathematical analysis with a taste for applied problems, I have increasingly been interested in addressing problems from outside mathematics via modelling, computing, and mathematical analysis.
My focus lies in the study, development, and application of variational problems in the physical sciences, data sciences, and geometry — from the perspective of the calculus of variations, partial differential equations, optimization, and scientific computing — with a particular interest in the interplay of these problems with pattern formation.
Education
PhD · 1994
Brown University
SM · 1991
Brown University
BSc · 1989
University of Toronto
Postdoctoral · 1995–97
Courant Institute, New York University
Postdoctoral · 1994–95
Carnegie Mellon University
Centre for Nonlinear Analysis
Research
Variational problems and applications, spanning the physical sciences, data sciences, and geometry, addressed via the calculus of variations and optimization, PDEs, and scientific computing. Examples include:
Diblock Copolymers, Liquid Drop Models, and Nonlocal Isoperimetric Problems
Centroidal Voronoi Tessellations, Optimal Quantization, and Applications
Principle of Maximum Entropy and Ill-Posed Inverse Problems in Image Processing and Machine Learning
Nonlocal Interaction Energies & Self-Assembly
Grain Growth in Polycrystalline Materials
Curvature-Based Variational Problems
Book
AMS Pure and Applied Undergraduate Texts · Vol. 54 (Sally Series)
Partial Differential Equations:
A First Course
American Mathematical Society — an accessible introduction to PDEs designed for undergraduate students with a background in multivariable calculus and linear algebra.
AMS Bookstore → Errata (Dec 2024) →Editorial Boards
Springer
SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Current Teaching
MATH 255 · Winter 2027
Honours Analysis II
McGill University
Membership
Member of the Board of Directors
Member
Contact
rustum.choksi [at] mcgill.ca
Office
Burnside Hall 1010G
Mailing Address
Department of Mathematics and Statistics