David Kinderlehrer

David Kinderlehrer is an Alumni Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on applied mathematics, particularly partial differential equations and optimal transport theory, applied to problems in materials science and cell biology.

• Education: Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, with postdoctoral training at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

Key research areas include understanding the evolution of material microstructures through entropy-based theories, modeling grain boundary dynamics, and developing continuum-scale methods for stochastic systems. His work has revealed connections between materials science and information theory, such as analogies to prefix codes.

Recent publications highlight applications of Wasserstein gradient flows to ion transport and the discovery of non-random texture order in materials via grain boundary character distributions. His investigations bridge discrete and continuous modeling paradigms.

• Scientific Awards
  • Fellow of the American Mathematical Society
  • SIAM Fellow