By Madeline Fuerstenberg, Community Reporter
Math has always been a part of Tarek Elgindi’s life.
Elgindi, a Memorial High School graduate, was taught advanced mathematics by his father, now a retired UW-Eau Claire mathematics professor, from a very young age.
Those early lessons left a lasting impact, as Elgindi’s mathematics research resulted in a groundbreaking discovery last year.
Research involves modeling of fluids
“My research concerns the modeling of fluids,” Elgindi said recently in an email interview. “The idea is pretty simple: suppose that you have a tank filled with water and you shake the tank once. Can one determine how the particles of water will be moving for all time after that initial shake?”
Elgindi explained that there is an idealized law, called the Euler equations, that can be used to track the motion of the particles.
Idealization, in this context, refers to the process by which scientific models incorporate assumptions that are less than totally accurate but which make the models easier to understand, or solve. Or, as Elgindi put it, no single equation could fully capture the dynamics of how the water particles will move but an approximation can be made.
“What my research shows, for the first time, is that the Euler equations can ‘break down,’ “ Elgindi said, “which means they predict that the vorticity (the local ‘spinning’ of a fluid patch) can become infinite at some time under some special circumstances.”
Elgindi’s research was documented in Quanta Magazine, an online science publication, in December, 2019.
An Eau Claire childhood
Elginidi was born in Khober, Saudia Arabia, in 1989 while his father was there on sabbatical. In 1991, the Elgindi family returned to their home country of Egypt.
Shortly thereafter, Elgindi and his family moved to Eau Claire, where Elgindi said he spent a majority of his childhood – except for 1996 through 1998, when the family briefly returned to Khober.
Elgindi attended Meadowview Elementary School, South Middle School and Memorial High School from grades three through 12.
“I benefited a lot from the school system’s flexibility in allowing me to take courses,” Elgindi said. “I was allowed to take courses at South while I was in fifth grade, courses at Memorial when I was at South and then many courses at UW-Eau Claire while I was at Memorial.”
Elgindi said he originally wanted to study medicine during his early high school years, but his interest starting gravitating toward math later on.
Father was influence on him
Outside of school Elgindi said his father, Mohamed Elgindi, was his greatest influence.
Growing up, Elgindi and his father would go for walks from their house near Meadowview all the way to the Oakwood Mall, he said. His father would teach him different things along the way.
“Sometimes he would tell me stories, or he would teach me about religion,” Elgindi said. “Often, though, he would teach me some new concept in math. I remember the first time I learned calculus was as we were walking up Oakwood Hill.
“Mathematicians are somehow blessed in that all we need to work is a pencil and a paper. My father taught me to do math even without those,” he said.
Elgindi said his professors at UW-EC and UW-Madison, where he attended as an undergraduate, also had profound impacts on him.
Religious teachings benefited him
Aside from mathematics, Elgindi said he benefited most from religious and spiritual teachings that he gained from his mother, uncle and various teachers in Eau Claire and Madison.
Sahar Taman, executive director of the Mahmoud S Taman Foundation and a friend of Elgindi’s family, said she has known him for his entire life.
Taman, a prominent member of the Eau Claire Muslim community, said Elgindi was involved with the Altoona Mosque and served as the president of the Muslim Student Association at UW-Madison when he was there.
Building a career
After his graduation from UW-Madison in 2009, Elgindi went on to obtain his Ph.D. from New York University. He then received a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation to work with the fluids group in the Princeton University mathematics department.
Today, Elgindi is an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California-San Diego, where in 2019 he taught Honors Introductory Analysis, Singularities in Fluids and Undergraduate Colloquium.
Elgindi is currently focusing his research on looking for more physically relevant scenarios where the Euler equations can break down. He said he is also interested in topics related to fluid mixing and other questions.
According to ResearchGate, Elgindi has been credited as an author on 47 scientific publications.
“I think that (Memorial) students should know that the sky’s the limit on what they can do,” Elgindi said. “Eau Claire has a lot of really great resources that can help them to excel academically and otherwise.
“It is very important that students not become deluded by things that seem to be glamorous in the short term,” he added. “What will really help them in the long term, in terms of success, happiness and fulfillment is adopting a disciplined and self-effacing lifestyle that focuses on slow and steady improvement.”
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