Scholarly Visit to the Technical University of Munich

This visit to Professor Katharina Krischer’s group was invigorating and refreshing! I visited her group for two weeks in May 2026 shortly after passing my comprehensive exam. I was grateful for the interest in my recent project on coupled catastrophes (and control thereof) and was able to collaborate with several members of her group. Through these discussions, I learned about the AUTO bifurcation software program. AUTO is a widely used, open-source software program for solving continuation and bifurcation problems in ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and algebraic systems. However, it has a steep learning curve. Although I spent most of my time learning how to use this software, I also learned that Professor Krischer’s students work together on problems. That is, instead of having totally independent research projects, they share approaches using experiments, theory, and numerical simulations.