Marc Härkönen

I'm Marc Härkönen. I recently got my PhD from Georgia Tech, and I'm currently a postdoc at the MPI MiS. My research topic could be broadly described as Differential Algebra, a topic that lies at the boundary of algebra and analysis. More specifically I study solution sets to partial differential equations with constant coefficients. These solution functions, while analytic in their nature, actually arise in families prescribed by the algebra and geometry an associated ideal or module. In June we organized a workshop on differential algebra here in Leipzig, which gathered researchers from diverse mathematical backgrounds, such as algebra, analysis, computer science, control theory, biology...

I also like to think about computational aspects of mathematics, and indeed most of my research projects so far have involved some kind of computer program. These include symbolic Gröbner basis based methods, numerical methods using homotopy continuation, or a hybrid of both, where approximate numerical algorithms are used to speed up exact symbolic algorithms.

When I'm not solving PDEs, I'm probably at the climbing gym or enjoying great German beer with friends. I also enjoy learning languages and learning about geography related trivia.