Dr Bishnu Lamichhane

Bishnu Lamichhane works in applied and computational mathematics problems arising in science, technology and engineering. He applies computational mathematics to differential equations, data modelling, tomography and optimisation. He has a very strong track record of cross-disciplinary collaboration with academics from various disciplines including engineering, statistics, chemistry, physics and environment. These collaborations include research student supervision and grant submissions.

The impact of Bishnu’s research is evidenced by his publications in numerous high-ranking journals, service to the Computational Mathematics Group (CMG) and the Australian Mathematical Science Institute (AMSI), invitations to review grants and participate in ARC and CRC-P grant applications and PhD thesis examinations. He was elected to the Chair of the Computational Mathematics Group (CMG) in 2016 for two years and re-elected again in 2018 for two years. He hosted Computational Mathematics and Computational Techniques (CTAC) conference in 2018 in Newcastle as the conference director. He was also an editor of an electronic supplement of the Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ANZIAM) Journal. Moreover, he is elected to the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) board in 2019 for two years. 

Bishnu has a very strong cross-disciplinary collaboration record with local academics at the University of Newcastle. His current active collaborative projects with local academics at the University of Newcastle include:
- data science and optimisation with statisticians
- application of the finite element method in Neutron strain tomography with engineers
- optical tomography with physicists
- data modelling in radiation therapy with physicists
- analysis of FTIR spectral data with chemists
- improved coal blending models through optimisation of coke microstructure with engineers. This project is funded by the BHP (Broken Hill Propriety Company Ltd).

Bishnu has also very strong collaboration outside the University of Newcastle. Inside Australia, his collaborations include academics from the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Monash University. Internationally, he has collaboration with academics from the University of Hannover (Germany), the University of Glasgow (UK), the University of Salzburg (Austria), the Indian Institute of Technology (India) and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (India). 

Bishnu has also a strong passion for teaching mathematics at all levels. He has taught many service courses as well as Honours courses. He was invited to teach an AMSI Honours course three times in 2011, 2014 and 2020. He focusses on driving students’ interest in mathematics through examples from applications of mathematics.

Supervision

Bishnu has supervised two PhD students and many Honours students to completion. He has a strong track record of supervising inter-disciplinary projects. Two of his PhD students have submitted their thesis. He supervises 10 PhD students and one Master student now with three of them as a principal supervisor. One of the three students is funded by the BHP and is supervised jointly with academics in engineering. 

BHP Funding

Bishnu is a lead investigator of the BHP project: Improved Coal Blending Models Through Optimisation of Coke Microstructure. The project is established to conduct mathematical analysis of coke microstructures and optimise coke strength. The total project cost is $279,620 and the UON contribution (Overhead + In-kind) is $329,620. The project is funded through BHP coal and cokemaking project with the grant number GS200013: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/centre/cimr

Invitation

Bishnu has been invited to present at many seminars, colloquia and conferences at the national and international levels. He has also been invited to teach an Honours course at AMSI Summer School (Summer School organised by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute) three times in 2011, 2014 and 2020. 

Engagement with the Computational Mathematics Group (CMG)

Bishnu was elected the Chair of the Computational Mathematics Group (CMG) of Australia in 2016 from the Annual General Meeting of the CMG, which was held during the Computational Techniques and Applications Conference (CTAC) in Monash University. He was the conference director of the conference CTAC in 2018, which was held in the Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle on 2018 November 27--30. He was re-elected as the Chair of the CMG group again from the Annual General Meeting of CMG during the CTAC conference in Newcastle. 

AMSI Board

Bishnu is elected to AMSI Board for the period of two years from mid-2019 to mid-2021. AMSI is the only mathematical institute at the national level and is a collaborative enterprise of Australia’s mathematical sciences. The Board is responsible for the overall direction and control of the management of AMSI and the formulation of policies to be applied to AMSI activities, which includes strategic direction, oversight of finances, the succession of the director, etc. He actively advocates for the benefit of small and regional universities in board meetings.

Engagement with the Australian Mathematical Society

Bishnu has been involved in organising the Computational Mathematics Session at the Australian Mathematical Society meeting since 2010. This work has resulted in a few collaborations. 

Asia-Pacific Connection

Bishnu is developing collaboration with academics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Mumbai), South Asian University (SAU, Delhi) and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS, Goa). He was invited to a few international conferences in the Asia-Pacific region. Two of his PhD students are from India due to this connection. 

Research Expertise

Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, Mixed and Hybrid Finite Element Methods, Computational Mathematics, Data Modelling, Optimisation

Membership

Member of the Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS)

Member of Australia and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ANZIAM)

Member of Mathematics of Computation and Optimisation (MoCaO: special interest group of the AustMS)

Brief History

After schooling in Gorkha, Nepal, Bishnu Lamichhane completed his Intermediate and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 1991 and 1993, respectively. Tribhuvan University is the biggest government university in Nepal with many campuses spread throughout the whole country. He completed both degrees as a private student without attending any lectures. He was working as a full-time school teacher during the study. A private student goes through the same assessment process in Nepal but they study themselves at home without getting help from lecturers and professors. He secured the second-best marks throughout the whole Tribhuvan University in the Bachelor of Arts exam and thus got the encouragement to study further.  He then joined the Central Department of Mathematics of Tribhuvan University to complete a Master of Arts in mathematics in 1993. He completed the Master's degree in mathematics with a distinction grade securing the best marks in that discipline throughout the university and thus a gold medal.

Master and PhD in Germany 

After completing the Master's degree in mathematics he worked as a casual teacher for two years at the Central Department of Mathematics during which time he got a permanent job as a section officer in the Nepalese Civil Service. However, he was not happy with the job. After three years as a section office in Nepal, he got a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Programme) scholarship to study Master of Science in Industrial Mathematics from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. That was a turning point in his career. He completed the Master's degree from the University of Kaiserslautern with a 'Very Good" grade and joined the University of Stuttgart in Germany to complete his PhD in 2001. He completed his PhD in mathematics in 2006. Two main topics of his PhD research were mortar finite element methods with biorthogonal systems and nearly incompressible materials in elasticity. 

Postdoctoral Experiences

He then joined Aston University in the UK for a post-doc position in signal processing. After one and half years at Aston University, he joined another post-doc position at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. He extended his research in finite element methods collaborating with academics at the ANU and the University of Hannover, Germany. He applied finite element methods for nearly incompressible elasticity, image processing problems, the approximation of thin-plate splines and Stokes problems during the post-doc period at the ANU.

University of Newcastle

He joined the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the University of Newcastle as a lecturer in November 2009. He was promoted to senior lecturer level in 2014.