Zhongwei Shen, professor of mathematics in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), will deliver the college’s 2017 Distinguished Professor Lecture this week.

Shen, who is serving as the college’s 2016-17 Distinguished Professor, will deliver a lecture titled “Heterogeneous Media and Homogenization” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in William T. Young Library's UK Athletics Auditorium. A reception will follow the lecture.

This public lecture will describe a mathematical research program that investigates the quantitative homogenization theory of partial differential equations, which form the backbone of mathematical modeling in the physical science. The research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

“The theory of homogenization is concerned with the macroscopic properties of microscopically inhomogeneous or heterogeneous media,” Shen said. “It states that strongly inhomogeneous media with rapidly oscillating microstructures, such as composite and perforated materials, may be approximately represented via homogenized or effective homogeneous media.”

Shen's research interests lie at the interface of harmonic analysis and partial differential equations. He is particularly interested in boundary value problems in non-smooth domains, the homogenization theory, spectrum properties of Schrodinger operators and the Navier-Stokes equations. His recent work has been focused on quantitative homogenization of partial differential equations with rapidly oscillating coefficients.

Shen is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS). He was awarded a Centennial Fellowship by the AMS in 1997. He held the Ralph E. and Norma L. Edwards Research Professorship from 2007 to 2010 and was awarded a UK Research Professorship for 2013-2014. In 2016, Shen was awarded the title of College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor.

A native of China, Shen received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Peking University. After completing his master's degree at the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he came to the United States and entered the University of Chicago in 1985, where he received his doctoral degree in mathematics in 1989. He joined the faculty at UK in 1995 and was promoted to professor in 2003. He served as chair of the Department of Mathematics from 2007 to 2011.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue