Curriculum Vitae

Name: Nicholas Christakis

Contact Details:

Work Address: Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

University of Crete

Heraklion, Crete, 70013, GREECE

tel: +30 2810-39 3763

e-mail: nchristakis at tem uoc gr

Education

1987-1992: Physics Department, University of Crete, Greece. National Diploma in Physics, Grade 7.41 (scale 0-10).

1992-1997: Physics Department, UMIST, Manchester, UK. PhD in Atmospheric Physics (Degree awarded in July 1998). Title of Thesis: “Modelling of the Microphysical Processes that Lead to Warm Rain Formation”.

1992-1994: Visitor of the Institute for the Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Worked on the subject of earth-ionospheric interactions during the times of earthquake preparation.

September 1995-June 1996: Manchester College of Arts and Technology, Manchester, UK. One-year course in Russian.

Work Experience

1992 (February-August): Research scientist, University of Crete. Working on wind prospecting on the island of Crete (programme sponsored by the Greek Public Company of Electricity) and on mid-latitude ionospheric E-layer phenomena.

1992-1996: Physics Department and Department of Paper Science, UMIST. Demonstrator of physics and computing laboratories and Teaching Assistant of physics to undergraduate students.

June 1997-October 1998: Post Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Construction and Earth Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. Worked on a project (in collaboration with HR Wallingford) entitled "Wave Dynamics at Coastal Structures". Continuing association with both institutions-Honorary Research Associate of Oxford Brookes University.

Also, Tutor of Mathematics, Physics and Computing to undergraduate students of the Department.

Courses:

Physics and Science Laboratories (1^st year)

Programming with FORTRAN77 (1^st year)

Numerical Analysis (2^nd year)

November 1998-February 2003: Senior Research Fellow, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich, London UK. Worked on a project entitled “Quality in Particulate-based Manufacturing”-QPM^TM (modelling and simulation of processes involving granular material).

Trademark of QPM name since 10^th July 2002 (TM No: 2285978).

December 2002: Worked on a project entitled “Research Associates' Industrial Secondment”-RAIS for the transfer of developed technology within QPM^TM into industry (project ended December 2003).

March 2003-December 2003 (on leave from the University of Greenwich): Observer Meteorologist. Served at the Greek Air Force, after undergoing training at the Greek National Meteorological Service and obtaining a Certificate of Observer Meteorologist of Class C.

March 2004: Visiting Fellow, Physics Department, University of Crete, Greece. Modelling of upper atmospheric tides and the vertical motion of ionospheric sporadic layers.

March 2004-May 2004: Visiting Fellow, Science Department, Technical University of Crete, Greece. Solution of the Shallow Water Equations on the sphere, using alternative formulations.

September 2004-September 2007: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Crete, Greece.

Courses taught:

Introduction to Computers and the C Programming Language

Linear and Non-Linear Programming

Mathematical and Numerical Modelling in Engineering (short course, 2005 Summer School of Mathematics, Universtity of Crete)
Also, Septemnber 2004-September 2006: Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece.

Courses taught:

Internal Combustion Engines

Motive Engines
Also, December 2005-December 2006: Research Fellow, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, FORTH, Greece. Working on a project associated with boundary layer phenomena for transonic/hypersonic flows

July 2007-June 2008: Senior Research Fellow, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich, London UK . Working on the modelling of shock waves through nozzles.

September 2008-June 2017: Visiting Assistant professor, Physics Department, University of Crete, Greece.

Courses taught:

Computers I

Computers II (Introduction to Numerical Analysis)
Computational Physics
Mathematics for Physicists I

February 2019-present: Visiting Assistant professor, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Crete, Greece.
Courses taught:
Numerical Weather Prediction
Technical Support of Computing Labs
Education in Digital Technologies - EDiT (Lifelong Learning Center, University of Crete)

Current research includes:

- Modelling of extreme weather events

    -     The utilization of Artificial Neural Networks in Science and Engineering
    -    Big Data Analytics
    -    Modelling and simulation of granular material processes

- Modelling of vertical motions of sporadic layers in the Earth’s upper atmosphere

- Modelling of shock waves in nozzles

- Modelling of linear friction welding processes

- Development of solution techniques for the shallow water equations in highly non-uniform Mercator grids

Research Projects:
1998-1999: EPSRC-UK “Wave Dynamics at Coastal Structures”
1999-2002:EPSRC-UK “Quality in Particulate-Based Manufacturing”-QPM

2002-2003: EPSRC-UK “Research Associates' Industrial Secondment”-RAIS
2005-2007: GSRT-Greece “Investigation of Electrodynamics and Plasma Physics of Ionospheric Phenomena at Mid-Latitude”
2005-2008: GSRT-Greece “Providing Services of Touristic and Archaeological Interest through a Platform of Terrestrial Digital TV”

2004-2009: FP6-NMP-EU-“Intermetallic Materials in Relation to Earth and Space Solidification”

2009-2011: GEO-“Droughts, Floods and Water Resource Management”

2011-2014: GSRT-Greece “AKAIPRO-Modeling of Extreme Weather Events”
2015: DAAD-RISE-Germany “Big Data in Science and Engineering”

Final Year Project Supervisor:
G. Zografakis, Final year Project 2005 (University of Crete): “Mathematical and Numerical Modelling of Flow and Combustion Processes in a Spark Ignition Engine”

E. Chatzipanagou, Final Year Project 2006 (University of Crete) : “Optimisation of Production Lines with Buffers ”
P. Chatzikonstantis, Final Year Project 2006 (University of Crete): “Orthogonal Arrays: Construction Methodologies and Application on the Design of Fractional Factorials”

Z. Kountouriotis, 2007 (University of Crete): “The application of an analytic contact model in the study of frictional behaviour of a Titanium alloy”

Z. Zenonos, 2008 (University of Crete): “Supersonic flow of a gas through a converging-diverging nozzle”

V. Barbaris, 2008 (University of Crete): “The application of artificial neural networks in finance”

A. Tsourtis, 2008 (University of Crete): “Modelling the motion of charged particles in highly dense plasmas”

V. Kouroupaki, 2018 (University of Crete): “Data processing in numerical weather prediction”
D. Karamanidis, 2019 (University of Crete): “Multi-variate analysis of meteorological data”
I. Evangelou, 2020 (University of Crete): “Statistical analysis and evaluation of the wind potential of Eastern Crete with the use of numerical and experimental data”

MSc Student Supervisor:

V. Thanigasapapathy, MSc 2000 (University of Greenwich): “Design and Implementation of Intranet Web Portal and Analysis of Migration of Web Client Architecture and XML Web Technology”
N. Antoniou, MSc, 2017 (University of Crete): “A Big Data Analytics application in transportation and astrophysics”

Journal Reviewer:

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids

Applied Mathematical Modelling

International Journal of Modeling Indentification and Control
Maritime Engineering
Civil Engineering

Conference Organizing

ISEA 12 (12^th International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy) May 2008 Crete: Member of the local Organizing Committee.

DCABES 2010 (9^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), August 2010, Hong Kong. Member of the Programme Committee – Organizer of Technical Session on: Computational Modelling of Complex Systems and Processes-Algorithms and Methodologies.

DCABES 2011 (10^th International Symposiumon Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), October 2011, Wuxi, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

DCABES 2012 (11^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), October 2012, Guillin, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

DCABES 2013 (12^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), November 2014, Xian Ning, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

ICAM 2013 (International Conference on Applied Mathematics), September 2013, Crete, Greece. Co-organizer of the Mini-Symposium on Modelling and Computations in Atmospheric Sciences.

HPCC 2014 (16^th IEEE International Conference on High Performance Computing and Communications), August 2014, Paris France. Organizer and Chair of : High Performance Scientific and Engineering Computing.

DCABES 2014 (13^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), November 2014, Xian Ning, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

DCABES 2015 (14^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), August 2015, Guiyang, China. Member of the Programme Committee.
DCABES 2016 (15^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), August 2016, Paris, France. Member of the Programme Committee.
DCABES 2017 (16^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), October 2017, AnYang, China. Member of the Programme Committee.
DCABES 2018 (17^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), October 2018, Wuxi, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

DCABES 2019 (18^th International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science), November 2019, Wuhan, China. Member of the Programme Committee.

Computing experience

Extensive experience in developing complex codes in FORTRAN77 and C (one-, two-and three-dimensional) in the areas of Scientific Computing, Mathematical Physics and Engineering (i.e., Computational Fluid Dynamics, Continuum Mechanics, microphysical parametrisations, interaction processes, coupling across length-scales). Developed and incorporated several numerical techniques (various techniques for numerical integration/differentiation, Monte-Carlo methods, Volume of Fluid methods, TVD schemes, various numerical solvers and higher-order schemes for both linear and non-linear differential equations, discretisation techniques, etc.). Excellent programming skills for both code and numerical techniques optimisation (for faster performance results).

Extensive experience with the WRF NWP model and the NCL scripting language.

Very good knowledge of PASCAL and working knowledge of FORTRAN90.

Extensive working experience in VMS, UNIX, LINUX and PC environments. Good knowledge of system administration tasks for UNIX/LINUX and PC. Very good working experience on SUN, HP, X-windows environments and their applications.

Experience in parallel computer systems (have worked with Cray YMP8 and DEC ALPHA systems) and working knowledge of code parallelisation using MPI.

Professional Interests: Atmospheric Dynamics, Cloud Microphysics, Artificial Neural Networks, Big Data Analytics, Fluid Dynamics, Continuum Mechanics, Multi-phase Multi-component, Multi-scale flows, Wave Dynamics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Mechanics, Advection Algorithms, Solution Techniques for Non-linear Differential Equations, Molecular Dynamics, Ionospheric Physics, Earth-Atmosphere Interactions.

Membership of Professional Bodies:
Member of The Institute of Physics, Chartered Physicist (UK).

Member of TMS (The Materials Minerals and Metals Society ).

Invited Talks

1. Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Crete, Greece, November 2003: Computational Fluid Dynamics in action: Utilising novel techniques and algorithms for the numerical modelling of large-scale engineering processes with application to granular material.

2. Department of Production and Management Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece, May 2004: Scientific computing and its utilisation for the numerical modelling of industrial production processes.

3. Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, FORTH-GR, Crete, Greece, March 2007: Modelling of complex physical systems within a Computational Fluid Dynamics Framework.

4. DCABES 2009, Wuhan, China, October 2009: The application of Artificial Neural Networks in engineering and finance.

5. DCABES 2010, Hong Kong, August 2010: On the Modelling of Complex Systems: Methodologies and Applications.