Fernando Charro

Department

Mathematics

Office

 FAB 1101

Biography

I'm originally from Madrid, Spain. I studied at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, obtaining a B.S. in mathematics in 2003, M.S. in 2005, and Ph.D. in mathematics in 2009. I spent four years at The University of Texas at Austin (USA), first as a Fulbright visiting scholar and then as a lecturer. Afterwards, I returned to Spain with a Juan de la Cierva position at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona. I arrived at Wayne State in the Fall of 2018.

In my research, I have focused on developing unified methods to study different types of degenerate, fully nonlinear equations. Prior to 2018, my research focused on exploring the role of structural hypotheses in existence and uniqueness/multiplicity results. During the past few years at Wayne State, my main focus shifted towards establishing common frameworks for qualitative properties of solutions such as nonlinear mean-value properties, exploring connections to related concepts like random games, deepening my work on asymptotics of p-Laplacian problems, and diversifying my research portfolio to include free-boundary problems among other topics. I also investigate applications in optimal control, geometry, image processing, and optimal transport.

I passionately advocate for undergraduate research as one of the best ways for our students to enhance their college experience and acquire valuable skills for their careers and future studies. I have successfully mentored undergrad students who have received funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), and then have talked at local, regional, and national conferences. At the mathematics department, I have been leading the 2023-24 cohort of the Undergraduate Mathematics Research Seminar (UMRS), now in its second year. I organized the 2024 “Mini-Symposium on Undergraduate Research” at the SIAM Great Lakes Section Annual Meeting at Purdue University Northwest, which gathered undergrad researchers from different Midwest universities. Additionally, I have worked with WSU undergraduates to establish a WSU Student Chapter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), for which I currently serve as Faculty Advisor. Our Chapter provides a diverse cohort of STEM students beyond the math department with valuable opportunities for networking, engaging in research, and presenting at state and national conferences.

I consistently facilitate outreach opportunities such as the outreach sessions I led during STEM Day 2023 at WSU for middle schoolers from the Detroit metropolitan area. For these outreach sessions, I designed engaging and easily actionable activities closely tied to my research on game theory and PDEs.

Since the Fall of 2022, I have served on the CLAS Faculty Council, the Academic Senate, and on the Senate's Curriculum and Instruction Committee.