Claire Valva

I am postdoc at Caltech in the department of Computing + Mathematical Sciences working with Andrew Stuart. I received my PhD in May 2025 from the Center for Atmosphere and Ocean Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences where I was advised by Dimitris Giannakis and Ed Gerber.

I am interested in the development and characterization of data-driven methods — particularly those using the formalism of dynamical systems — and applications of these methods to make disciplinary contributions to (geophysical) fluid dynamics and atmosphere-ocean science. During my PhD, I developed data-driven methods for consistent spectral approximations of Koopman operators and used these methods to study oscillations in the climate system.

Spring 2026: This spring I am teaching a course on data-driven methods for dynamical systems (ACM 270-2) that will discuss both theory and application. This class will be particularly relevant to students interested in applications in geophysical fluid dynamics and atmosphere ocean science. See here for a course description.

Recent Work

  • Physics-informed spectral approximation of Koopman operators with Dimitris Giannakis, paper.
  • The QBO, the annual cycle, and their interactions: Isolating periodic modes with Koopman analysis with Edwin P Gerber, paper.
  • Consistent spectral approximation of Koopman operators using resolvent compactification with Dimitris Giannakis, paper
  • Koopman analysis of the periodic Korteweg–de Vries equation with Jeremy Parker, paper.
  • What Controls the Probability Distribution of Local Wave Activity in the Midlatitudes? with Noboru Nakamura, paper.

    • CV   Google Scholar   GitHub  ORCID
     
    Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology
    California Institute of Technology

    clairev (at) caltech.edu