Evan Massaro

Evan Massaro is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering whose research focuses on finding fast and efficient Monte Carlo algorithms to model and simulate rarefied gas dynamics. As a MathWorks Fellow, Evan will work to validate and characterize a new model that addresses specific drawbacks of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) algorithm. DSMC is the current state-of-the-art and runs on US Department of Energy supercomputers to model atmospheric entry of hypersonic flights; however, when the simulated gas density spans many orders of magnitude, DSMC becomes statistically inefficient, requiring a prohibitive amount of computational resources. Through computational experiments in systems with large density gradients, Evan discovered an efficient and accurate Monte Carlo algorithm based on importance sampling, which led to a 10 to 100 times reduction in computational resources compared to DSMC. MATLAB has been an instrumental resource in his work. Evan’s research has yielded an innovative synthesis of disparate computational methods to solve a class of problems that have challenged researchers for decades. His work has great potential to deliver innovative solutions to real-world problems through computational physics.