About me

Welcome! I’m Ivan Zanardi, a soon-to-graduate Ph.D. candidate in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working at the intersection of applied mathematics, machine learning, and plasma physics. I earned my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2017 and 2020, respectively.

My research focuses on developing fast, physics-informed surrogate models for nonequilibrium plasma flows, with potential applications in hypersonic reentry, fusion energy, and astrophysical flows. These problems involve stiff, high-dimensional dynamics that make direct simulation computationally intractable. I address this challenge by combining physics-based modeling, reduced-order techniques, and scalable surrogate architectures, bridging algorithmic innovation and real-world engineering to enable reliable, cost-effective simulations.

Currently, I work on projects sponsored by or in collaboration with LLNL, NASA, and the DoD, and my tools have been deployed in both high-fidelity CFD workflows and data-driven modeling pipelines.

🎯 Research Interests

• Scientific machine learning
• Surrogate and reduced-order modeling
• Scientific computing
• Nonequilibrium plasma physics

📫 Let’s Connect

I’m actively looking for postdoc or research scientist roles in applied machine learning and computational modeling—ideally in national labs, startups, or research-driven industry. If you’re working on something exciting, I’d love to connect!

👉 View my resume
📬 Email: zanardi3@illinois.edu