Jan S. Hesthaven

Jan S. Hesthaven is a Professor of Mathematics and Chair of Computational Mathematics and Simulation Science at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. He currently serves as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at EPFL since 2021, following his role as Dean of the School of Basic Sciences (2017-2020). Previously, he held academic positions at Brown University, USA, where he became the Founding Deputy Director of ICERM, and worked as Professor of Applied Mathematics (2005-2013), Associate Professor with tenure (2003-2005), and Assistant Professor (1999-2002).

• Education
  • MSc in Numerical Analysis (1991), Technical University of Denmark
  • PhD in Numerical Analysis (1995), Technical University of Denmark
  • Dr.Techn (2009), Technical University of Denmark

His research focuses on high-order accurate computational methods for time-dependent problems, particularly in computational wave problems (e.g., optics, radar, gravity waves, geophysical flows) and reduced order modeling for real-time simulation of complex systems. Recent work integrates traditional numerical methods with scientific machine learning and neural networks, enabling applications like structural health monitoring. His expertise also spans spectral methods, multi-scale methods, uncertainty quantification, and absorbing boundary conditions.

He has received numerous honors including AMS Fellow, SIAM Fellow, and Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. His leadership extends to international evaluation committees, technical advisory boards of companies, the science advisory board of the University of Stuttgart's Excellence Cluster, SIAM's Board of Trustees, and the University of Copenhagen's governing board.