Michael Nieves

Biography

I obtained a first class Master of Mathematics degree in 2005 and PhD in Applied Mathematics in 2007, at the University of Liverpool (UoL). I then held research posts at both UoL and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) before taking up a lectureship at LJMU in 2012. I am also an Honorary Fellow of UoL.

In 2017, I was appointed as a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the School of Computer Science and Mathematics (SCM), Keele University. I was also awarded a 2 year Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to lead a research project at the University of Cagliari, Italy, in the design of novel structured materials with various applications in civil engineering and the nuclear industry.

Research and scholarship

I am an applied mathematician who enjoys tackling a wide range of fundamental multidisciplinary problems in both solid and classical mechanics with practical relevance in industry and society. As part of the Centre for Mathematics Research, I primarily use mathematical modelling to design novel structured micro-materials capable of controlling the flow of vibrations and mitigating their effects, such as failure mechanisms. I also develop new asymptotic techniques that allow one to characterise the response of solids containing large clusters of small defects.

My research interests include:

Asymptotic analysis of singularly perturbed elliptic boundary value problems
Gyro-elastic metamaterials, design and earthquake protection applications
Waves and dynamic fracture propagation in flexural multi-scale systems and metamaterials

Concerning the area (1), I have recently published a research monograph describing a novel asymptotic approach that provides a new tool for mathematicians, physicists and engineers looking to model granular materials (see https://mjnieves.com/books/). More information about my research interests and activities can be found at https://mjnieves.com.

I secured major research grants from the European Commission to conduct research on the following projects:

1. EFFECTFACT: EFFECTive FACTorisation techniques for matrix-functions: Developing theory, numerical methods and impactful applications

Dates: Sept 2021 - Sept 2025
Budget: €1.82 million
Website: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101008140

The aim of this project is to develop methods for solving matrix Wiener-Hopf equations encountered in problems of practical relevance within materials science, civil engineering, medicine and data science.

2. CAT-FFLAP: CATastrophic Failure in Flexural LAttice Problems

Dates: Sept 2017 - Sept 2019
Budget: €168, 277
Host: University of Cagliari, Italy
Website: https://mjnieves.com/project-cat-fflap/

On this project, I collaborated with engineers from academia and industry to develop a new breed of structured metamaterials with a view to enhancing the design of large-scale structures commonly found in civil engineering, preventing their catastrophic failure.

Teaching

I am involved in postgraduate training activities, which includes the supervision of a postgraduate student at the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, who engaged in research related to the project EU H2020 grant MSCA-IF-2016-747334-CAT-FFLAP (see https://mjnieves.com/group/).

I am the module leader for the Year 4 modules:

MAT-10049 Investigations and Problem Solving
MAT-10051 Applied Mathematics

and the Level 7 Masters module:

MAT-40011 Analytic Functions

I delivered the short course "Understanding dynamic crack growth in structured systems with the Wiener-Hopf technique” during a summer school at the research programme "Bringing pure and applied analysis together via the Wiener-Hopf technique, its generalisations and applications”, University of Cambridge (for the lecture notes, please see https://mjnieves.com/projects/lecture-notes/). For the site https://www.keele.ac.uk/study/postgraduateresearch/researchareas/mathematics/#research-topics