Sivaguru S. Sritharan (also known as S. S. Sritharan) is an American aerodynamicist and mathematician.[1]


Sivaguru S. Sritharan
Dr. Sivaguru S. Sritharan

Sritharan served in civilian universities such as University of Southern California and University of Wyoming as faculty member and head of the department and also in the Department of Defense (U. S. Navy and U. S. Air Force) in various capacities ranging from scientist to leadership roles, and also held visiting positions at several international institutions.[1]

He served as the Vice Chancellor at the Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences in Bengaluru, India.[1]


Education edit

Sritharan had his high schooling at Jaffna Central College. He then joined at University of Sri Lanka (Peradeniya) and obtained a BSc (Honors) degree in mechanical engineering. He obtained a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from University of Washington and a master's degree and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from University of Arizona.[2][1]

Career edit

Sritharan served as the first Provost and Vice Chancellor of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Dayton, Ohio and as the Dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.[1]

He was a Professor and Head of the Department of Mathematics at University of Wyoming and Head of the Science and Technology Branch at the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command in San Diego.[1]

Contributions edit

Sritharan is known for his research contributions in rigorous mathematical theory, optimal control and stochastic analysis of fluid mechanics and magneto-hydrodynamics.[3][4]

His notable contributions include:

1. Developing dynamic programming method for the equations of fluid dynamics. This subject is closely related to reinforcement learning in the language of machine learning.[5]

2. First complete proof of the Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle for fluid dynamic equations with state constraints, as a joint work with UCLA mathematician Hector. O. Fattorini.[6]

3. Developing robust (H-infinity) control theory for fluid dynamics as a joint work with Romanian mathematician Viorel P. Barbu.[7]

4. First successful rigorous theory establishing a direct stochastic analogy to the famous Jacques-Louis Lions and G. Prodi (1959) on existence and uniqueness theorem for the two dimensional Navier-Stokes equation as a joint work with J. L. Menaldi utilizing a subtle local monotonicity property.[8]

5. Proving Large Deviation Principle for stochastic Navier-Stokes equation as a joint work with P. Sundar to estimate the probability of rare events.[9]

Bibliography edit

  • Sritharan, S.S. (2019), Invariant Manifold Theory for Hydrodynamic Transition, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 9780486828282

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Vice Chancellor". Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  2. ^ "SIVAGURU S. SRITHARAN". ContactOut. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  3. ^ Sritharan, S.S. (2019), Invariant Manifold Theory for Hydrodynamic Transition, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 9780486828282
  4. ^ Sritharan, S.S. (1998), Optimal Control of Viscous Flow, SIAM, ISBN 9780898714067
  5. ^ Sritharan, S.S. (1991), ""Dynamic Programming of the Navier-Stokes Equations," in Systems and Control Letters, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 299-307", Systems & Control Letters, 16 (4), Elsevier: 299–307, doi:10.1016/0167-6911(91)90020-F, retrieved July 20, 2020
  6. ^ Fattorini, H. O.; Sritharan, S.S. (1994), ""Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Optimal Controls in Viscous Flow," Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Series A, Vol. 124A, pp. 211-251", Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section A: Mathematics, 124 (2), Proceedings of the Royal Society: 211–251, doi:10.1017/S0308210500028444, S2CID 18018847, retrieved July 20, 2020
  7. ^ Barbu, V.; Sritharan, S.S. (1998), "H-infinity-control theory of fluid dynamics," Proceedings of The Royal Society of London, Series A, pp. 3009-3033, Vol. 356, No. 1979, November 1998 (PDF), Proceedings of the Royal Society, retrieved July 20, 2020
  8. ^ Menaldi, J. L.; Sritharan, S.S. (2002), "Stochastic 2-D Navier-Stokes equation," Applied Mathematics and Optimization, 46, 2002, pp. 31-53, Wayne State University, retrieved July 20, 2020
  9. ^ Sundar, P.; Sritharan, S.S. (2006), "Large Deviations for Two-dimensional Stochastic Navier-Stokes Equations", Stochastic Processes, Theory and Applications, Vol. 116, Issue 11, (2006), 1636-1659 (PDF), Elsevier, retrieved July 20, 2020