George Haller

George Haller is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich. He leads the Institute of Mechanical Systems and holds the Chair in Nonlinear Dynamics. His research focuses on:

• Nonlinear dynamical systems theory
• Data-driven model reduction
• Spectral submanifolds (SSMs)
• Coherent structure identification in fluids and solids
• Control of complex nonlinear systems

His recent work emphasizes equation- and data-driven modeling across solids, fluids, and control systems. Key contributions include:

• SSMTool - a MATLAB package for nonlinear model reduction
• SSMLearn - open-source software for data-driven modeling
• Transport barrier detection algorithms with oceanographic applications

Scientific accolades include:

• 2025 Lyapunov Award (ASME)
• 2023 Stanley Corrsin Award (APS)
• Fellowships: ASME, APS, SIAM
• External Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

His group has trained notable alumni:

• Thomas Breunung (Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Shobhit Jain (Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology)
• Mattia Serra (Assistant Professor, UCSD)

Publications span Nonlinear Dynamics, Nature Communications, and Physical Review Fluids, with a 2025 book Modeling Nonlinear Dynamics for Equations and Data (SIAM Press). Current projects include:

• Reduced-order modeling of fluid-structure interactions
• Control of soft robots via nonlinear dynamics
• Identifying material barriers in turbulence