COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 7 a relatively new field of study. “Pure Offerings in the Mountains” is not just a record for historical documentation but a way for Lin Hong to convey his values, morality, and political views. It’s also very beautifully written which is why Wang calls it “a lyrical cookbook.” By using “Pure Offerings in the Mountains,” Wang is reconstructing the lost poet. The dishes in the collection reflect the aesthetics of Lin Hong and the pursuit of purity. “(Purity) can mean a lot of things in Chinese culture, such as integrity, frugality, and in terms of food, this very subtle, refreshing kind of beauty, so most of the dishes in that cookbook are vegetarian and simple,” she says. “Lin Hong was pushing back against this very extravagant way of eating at that time, which was so prevalent, especially with richer families. And he was trying to say that, look, we can find beauty in those very rustic, simple, frugal ways of eating. So that dish (Huai-Leaf Cold Noodles) is actually a very good symbol of that.” MATHEMATICS MATHEMATICS IN MOTION The problems that captivate mathematician and computational scientist Xianyi Zeng rarely sit still. Whether tracking how water moves around a rapidly accelerating ship, modeling viral infections through cellular tissue, or understanding why rivers meander across landscapes, his work grapples with systems in constant flux. At their core lie differential equations, the mathematical languages used to describe how things change. “I prefer to describe my research as applied mathematics and scientific computing,” says Zeng, assistant professor of mathematics. His focus is particularly sharp on hyperbolic conservation laws, equations describing quantities that remain constant even as they flow through space and transform over time. Mass in a closed fluid system, the total number of cells in biological tissue, energy in a moving fluid—each obeys a conservation principle that Zeng translates into computational methods. The Navier-Stokes equations occupy much of Zeng’s early work in fluid dynamics. Developed by Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel Stokes in 1822, these equations determine the velocity vector field that applies to a fluid, given initial conditions. The Clay Mathematical Institute offers a $1 million prize to prove their existence, yet rather than pursue analytical proof, Zeng took a different path. This pragmatic turn reflects years of research in computational fluid dynamics. The equations model air and water in motion, making them indispensable for applications from airplane wing design to ship hull optimization. But Zeng sees unfinished business. Modern engineering problems demand more than isolated solutions. When a ship cuts through water at high speed, the interaction becomes extraordinarily complex. Traditional methods prove incompatible when applied together. Yet Zeng’s portfolio spans far beyond ships and waves. He devotes equal energy to developing approximation methods for differential equations themselves. His research centers on Hermite interpolation, a refinement of classical polynomial approximation techniques. “Differential equations, by definition, involve derivatives,” Zeng says. “We are trying to build our approximation of both, not only on the point values.” Zeng also collaborates with civil engineers on river meandering. A colleague’s experimental facility creates miniature rivers in a laboratory, while Zeng’s group provides mathematical models and numerical tools for preliminary analysis. The field itself remains fundamentally open-ended. Each advance in computing power creates capacity to tackle more complicated problems. For mathematicians, engineers, and the industries they serve, that open horizon represents both challenge and opportunity. And Zeng appears content to remain in motion through it, solving problems that refuse to sit still. CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK Wandi Wang hosted a food lab with students who recreated the green noodle dish. Xianyi Zeng
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