About

Yanlai Chen received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2002, followed by a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and a PhD in Mathematics from the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota in 2007. He then completed a postdoctoral research training at Brown University before joining the Department of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in August 2010. Dr. Chen currently serves as a Full Professor and assumed the role of Chief Research Officer (CRO) at UMass Dartmouth in July 2024, where he oversees and fosters the university’s research enterprise.

Dr. Chen's own research, supported by the NSF, AFOSR, and ONR through UMassD's MUST program, focuses on numerical analysis and scientific computing. His areas of expertise include finite element methods, reduced basis methods, fast algorithms, uncertainty quantification, and the design and analysis of machine learning algorithms. He has supervised the completion of six doctoral dissertations as of 2024.

Passionate about undergraduate education, Dr. Chen led the establishment of UMass Dartmouth’s ACCOMPLISH program, funded by an NSF grant. This initiative provides comprehensive financial, social, and academic support, offering a contextualized, computing-centered education for eligible STEM students. In addition, Dr. Chen has held significant administrative roles, including Co-Director of the Graduate Program in Engineering and Applied Science between September 2020 and July 2024, and Co-Director of the Center for Scientific Computing and Data Science Research in Spring 2022.

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Honors

Walter Cass Faculty Recognition Award
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (United States, New Bedford) - UMD, 2024
Faculty Contribution Award, Center for Scientific Computing and Visualization Research
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (United States, New Bedford) - UMD, 2020
Dean's Travel Award, College of Arts and Science
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (United States, New Bedford) - UMD, 2010-2019
Provost’s Travel Award
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (United States, New Bedford) - UMD, 2010-2015
Provost's Seminar Fund
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (United States, New Bedford) - UMD, 2011-2017
Travel Award from MSI, GAPSA and COGS
University of Minnesota (United States, Minneapolis), 2007
Good Teaching Award, School of Mathematics
University of Minnesota (United States, Minneapolis), 2007
Summer School Travel Award, Center for Nonlinear Analysis
Carnegie Mellon University (United States, Pittsburgh) - CMU, 2006
Travel Award, School of Mathematics
University of Minnesota (United States, Minneapolis), 2006

Organizational Affiliations

Chief Research Officer, Office of Research and Innovation, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Program Director, ACCOMPLISH STEM Scholarship Program, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Past Affiliations

Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Co-Graduate Program Director, Engineering and Applied Science, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Interim Co-Director, Center for Scientific Computing and Data Science Research, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Research Associate, Brown University (United States, Providence)

Program Organizer and Research Fellow, Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, Brown University (United States, Providence)

Visiting Associate Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States, Cambridge) - MIT

Visiting Associate Professor, Brown University (United States, Providence)

Visiting Assistant Professor, Brown University (United States, Providence)

Education

Applied Mathematics
09/2002–07/2007, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota (United States, Minneapolis)
Computer Science
09/2006–08/2007, Master of Science (MSc, MSc, MSci, MSi, ScM, MS, MSHS, MS, Mag, Mg, Mgr, SM, or SM), University of Minnesota (United States, Minneapolis)
Mathematics
09/1997–07/2002, Bachelor of Science (BS), University of Science and Technology of China (China, Hefei) - USTC