Aaron
Charous

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Scientist.
Builder.
Occasionally
correct.

Hi, I'm Aaron — a scientific computing person who studied applied math at Brown, where I got into terahertz optics and leaky waveguides before pivoting to graduate work at MIT. There I spent a lot of time making PDEs behave themselves and convincing neural networks to refine finite element meshes and adaptively reduce the rank of numerical solutions to deterministic and stochastic differential equations. Mixed results across the board.

These days I work as a quant at IMC Trading in Chicago, applying the same mathematical thinking to problems that move considerably faster than ocean waves. It's a different kind of uncertainty quantification.

My academic research sat at the intersection of numerical linear algebra, model-order reduction, and time integration along nonlinear manifolds. These days my interests have drifted toward statistical machine learning and optimization. Also the occasional ill-advised research rabbit hole.

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Some things I
wrote down

2024
Range-dynamical low-rank split-step Fourier method for the parabolic wave equation
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America — A. Charous, P.F.J. Lermusiaux
Acoustics
2024
Stable rank-adaptive dynamically orthogonal Runge–Kutta schemes
SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing — A. Charous, P.F.J. Lermusiaux
Appl. Math
2023
Deep reinforcement learning for adaptive mesh refinement
Journal of Computational Physics — C. Foucart, A. Charous, P.F.J. Lermusiaux
RL
2023
Dynamically orthogonal Runge–Kutta schemes with perturbative retractions for the dynamical low-rank approximation
SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing — A. Charous, P.F.J. Lermusiaux
Appl. Math
2023
A wide-area deep ocean floor mapping system: Design and sea tests
Geomatics — P. Ryu, D. Brown, K. Arsenault, A. Charous et al.
Acoustics
2023
MSEAS-ParEq for Coupled Ocean-Acoustic Modeling Around the Globe
OCEANS 2023 MTS/IEEE — W.H. Ali, A. Charous, C. Mirabito et al.
Acoustics
2023
Gaussian Beam Migration for Wide-Area Deep Ocean Floor Mapping
OCEANS 2023 MTS/IEEE — A. Charous, W.H. Ali, P. Ryu et al.
Acoustics
2022
Incremental Low-Rank Dynamic Mode Decomposition for Efficient Forecast Dissemination and Onboard Forecasting
OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads — T. Ryu, W.H. Ali, A. Charous et al.
Appl. Math
2022
Stochastic acoustic ray tracing with dynamically orthogonal differential equations
OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads — M.J. Humara, W.H. Ali, A. Charous et al.
Acoustics
2021
Dynamically Orthogonal Differential Equations for Stochastic and Deterministic Reduced-Order Modeling of Ocean Acoustic Wave Propagation
OCEANS 2021 Conference — A. Charous, P.F.J. Lermusiaux
Acoustics
2020
Single-shot link discovery for terahertz wireless networks
Nature Communications — Y. Ghasempour, R. Shrestha, A. Charous, E. Knightly, D.M. Mittleman
Optics
2019
Characteristics of resonance-induced optical vortices and spatial reshaping
Optics Letters — W. Zhang, A. Charous, M. Nagai, D.M. Mittleman, R. Mendis
Optics
2018
Extraordinary optical reflection resonances and bound states in the continuum from a periodic array of thin metal plates
Optics Express — W. Zhang, A. Charous, M. Nagai, D.M. Mittleman, R. Mendis
Optics
2018
Characterizing optical resonances using spatial mode reshaping
Optica — W. Zhang, A. Charous, M. Nagai, D.M. Mittleman, R. Mendis
Optics
Experience

Where I've been
causing trouble

IMC Trading
Feb 2024 — Present
Quantitative Researcher
Applying numerical methods and algorithmic thinking to quantitative problems in Chicago. The time scales are different from academic research. Everything else is surprisingly familiar.
Quantitative Research Chicago, IL
Meta · Reality Labs
Jun–Dec 2023
Research Scientist Intern
Elastodynamic simulations in real-time for soft body interactions at Reality Labs in Redmond. Turns out making virtual objects feel physically plausible is a hard problem.
Elastodynamics Real-Time Simulation Redmond, WA
MIT · MSEAS Lab
Aug 2019 — Jun 2023
Graduate Student Researcher
Worked in the Multidisciplinary Simulation, Estimation, and Assimilation Systems lab on reduced-order modeling applied to ocean phenomena: computational acoustics, fluid mechanics, and optimal path planning. Also taught neural networks to decide when a finite element mesh needs more triangles.
DO Methods Ocean Acoustics Deep RL Cambridge, MA
IMC Trading
Jun–Aug 2018
Quantitative Trading Intern
Delta One trading desk. First exposure to the idea that math could also be a day job.
Delta One Chicago, IL
Brown · Mittleman Lab
Jan 2017 — May 2019
Terahertz Optics Researcher
Studied terahertz beam behavior on arrays of parallel-plate waveguides. Formulated mathematical models for transmission and reflection and built analytical models using ray optics. Came away with strong opinions about LaTeX.
Terahertz Optics Subwavelength Waveguides Providence, RI
Brown · Dept. of Applied Math
Sep–Dec 2016
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
TA for Applied Ordinary Differential Equations. Turns out explaining something is the fastest way to realize you don't understand it.
ODEs Teaching
Education

Where I learned
to be confused

MIT
Feb 2021 — May 2023
PhD, Mechanical Engineering & Computational Science
Dissertation on high-order retractions for reduced-order modeling and uncertainty quantification. Spent a lot of time on manifolds. Not the hiking kind or the car kind.
MIT
Sep 2019 — Jan 2021
SM, Computational Science & Engineering
The warm-up act.
Brown University
2015 — 2019
ScB, Applied Mathematics & Engineering
Where it all started — terahertz optics, differential equations, and a degree that let me claim to be a mathematician to physicists, a physicist to engineers, and an imposter to pure mathematicians.
Hello
Let's talk

I don't bite.
Usually.

Hit me up about research, quant stuff, numerical methods, or literally anything else.