Dr. Michael Sprague joined the Computational Science Center at NREL as a senior scientist in 2010. As a graduate student, he developed a parallel spectral finite element method for treating the interaction of large marine structures with an acoustic fluid subject to cavitation. He spent 2 years as an NSF-VIGRE postdoctoral fellow in Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, working on rotationally constrained convection, which has application to ocean deep convection. Before coming to NREL, Dr. Sprague spent 5 years as assistant professor and founding faculty in applied mathematics at the University of California, Merced. There he was the faculty lead in developing the new graduate program in applied mathematics.

Professional Experience

• 2010–present, senior scientist, NREL
• 2005–2010, assistant professor, applied mathematics, University of California, Merced
• 2005, 2007, visiting assistant professor, EGIM, Laboratoire de Modélisation en Mécanique in Marseille, France
• 2003–2005, research associate, applied mathematics, University of Colorado, Boulder
• 2002–2003, adjunct professor, mechanical engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Research Interests

Computational mechanics of fluids, structures, and their interaction|Spectral finite-element methods for time-dependent partial-differential equations|High-performance computing.

Education

2002 Ph.D., mechanical engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder

1999 M.S., mechanical engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder

1997 B.S., mechanical engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison