Derick Nganyu Tanyu is currently a Research Associate and PhD candidate at the University of Bremen, Germany’s Centre for Industrial Mathematics. He works at the intersection of Deep Learning and Scientific Computing (mostly numerical methods for Partial Differential Equations-PDEs), also known as Scientific Machine Learning. Most phenomena around us can be modeled by PDEs. By leveraging the recent successes in Deep learning, he seeks to obtain better solutions/parameters of the PDEs that explain daily phenomena. Specifically, he works on understanding the interaction of an automobile with complex materials such as sand, mud, or snow. On such surfaces, vehicle stability is not always certain: collisions or vehicle rollover may be unavoidable. These situations must be handled appropriately to ensure the safety of occupants. In particular, the question arises as to whether, when, and which airbags should be deployed.

Derick works with partner organisations – Volkswagen AG and ESI Software Germany GmbH and apply suitable computer-based mapping strategies to solve these problems. The general relevance of this project extends far beyond the prototypical examples.