Kui Ren

Professor of Applied Mathematics

Professor Ren works in a few different directions in applied and computational mathematics.

His recent efforts include performing theoretical and numerical analysis of inverse problems for partial differential equations (for applications in various areas of imaging science), developing methods for computational optimization problems in physical systems, studying the propagation of acoustic/electromagnetic waves in complex media, characterizing emerging phenomenon in large dense random graphs and networks, as well as developing computational algorithms for simulating particle transport in heterogeneous media.

Professor Ren received his BS from Nanjing University in China. He obtained his PhD from the Applied Mathematics Program at Columbia University in May 2006. He moved to the University of Chicago as an L. E. Dickson instructor in 2007 and joined the University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Oden Institute in Fall 2008. He returned to Columbia in 2018 as a Professor of Applied Mathematics

Research Areas


  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
  • Computational Science and Engineering
  • Computational Imaging
  • Mathematical Modeling
  • Scientific Machine Learning
  • Optimal Control
  • Control Theory
  • Real and Complex Analysis
  • Harmonic Analysis
  • Approximation Theory
  • Functional Analysis and Operator Theory
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Probability and Statistics
  • Computational (Mathematical) Biology
  • Data Science
  • Network Science
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Novel Wave Phenomena in Heterogeneous, Nonlinear, and Random Media
  • Quantum Computing
  • Image Reconstruction

Additional Information


  • Education
    • PhD, Applied Mathematics, Columbia University
    • MS, School of Physics, Peking University
    • BS, Nanjing University