Christopher J. Larsen

Christopher J. Larsen is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in mathematical modeling of material defects and fracture mechanics. He has been affiliated with Carnegie Mellon since completing his PhD in Mathematics in 1996.

• B.S. in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University (1989)
• J.D. from the University of Maryland (1992)
• M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University (1994)
• Ph.D. in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University (1996)

Larsen’s research focuses on improving mathematical models for material defects, particularly growing lower-dimensional surfaces in fracture mechanics. His work spans Partial Differential Equations, Calculus of Variations, and Geometric Measure Theory, aiming to address open questions in this interdisciplinary field.

He has collaborated with institutions such as the University of Paris XIII, University of Paris IX, Caltech, Oxford, and Brown University, and has been a Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation since 2005. He was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship in 2009 and served as a Lecturer at the Park City Mathematics Institute in 2014 discussing variational methods for materials science.

Larsen’s lab, Mathematics of Material Defect Evolution, engages postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates in advancing mathematical methods for materials science applications.