Max Paik (he/him)
Hello! I am a second-year PhD student advised by Professors Daniele Panozzo and Denis Zorin in the Geometric Computing Lab @ NYU. I am also a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow. Broadly speaking, I am interested in physical simulation, robust numerical methods, and geometric processing.
Before joining the GCL, I completed my Bachelor's at Northwestern University, where I double majored in Computer Science and Physics. There, I had the chance to research astrophysical jets with Professor Sasha Tchekhovskoy and colloidal suspensions with Professor Michelle Driscoll.
Before that, I grew up on the California coast in a town called Half Moon Bay.
Outside of research, I am an avid baseball fan (Go Giants!). I also enjoy writing, reading, and watching non-science things (most recently There's Always This Year), hiking when I get the chance to escape the city (often Montara Mountain), traveling, and trying different foods.
You can contact me by emailing maxpaik (at) nyu (dot) edu.
Also, here are my Google Scholar, ORCID, and LinkedIn pages.
News
June 2024
I have been awarded the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.
February 2024
I co-authored a paper on 3D GRMHD simulations of cylindrical jets. Check it out here.
September 2023
I began my PhD program in Computer Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York, New York.
June 2023
I graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Computer Science and Physics.
Research
Geometric Computing (2023 - Present)
Working with Professors Daniele Panozzo and Denis Zorin, I am investigating robust and scalable numerical methods for elastodynamic simulation with applications from microstructure design to biomechanics.
Astrophysical Jets in Dense Media (2021 - 2023)
Working with Professor Sasha Tchekhovskoy, I designed, ran, and analyzed magnetohydrodynamic simulations of relativistic jets propagating through the gas surrounding their black hole. My simulations, which ran on some of the most powerful supercomputing clusters in the world, helped explain observations of different jet profiles in different physical systems.
Drying Colloidal Suspensions (2020 - 2021)
Working with Professor Michelle Driscoll, I designed an apparatus to capture video of drying colloidal suspensions. When the pandemic took away the chance to work in the lab, I developed an image processing tool to automatically detect and analyze cracks in droplets.
Computer Vision Algorithms for Analyzing Drying Colloidal Suspensions
Northwestern Undergraduate Research Expo (Poster)
Blog
This is where I try to collect my thoughts in a way that is (hopefully) useful to myself and anyone else who reads this. There's no particular goal here other than to write out ideas I need to work through or document things I wish I'd known earlier.
No posts yet :(
Contact
I'm always happy to chat about research, life as a PhD student, or anything else. Email me!
maxpaik (at) nyu (dot) edu