CV

Education

• Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2019
• M.S. in Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, 2017
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2016
• B.S. in Thermal Energy and Power Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2014
• Exchange student in Mechanical Engineering, University College Dublin, 2014
• Exchange student in Mechanical Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, 2012

Work experience

• From 2024: Postdoctoral Scholar
  • University of Chicago
  • Duties included: Develop explainable and physics-constrained ML models for climate resilience and environmental sustainability.
  • Supervisor: Professor Pedram Hassanzadeh
• From 2019: Postdoctoral research associate
  • Rice University
  • Duties included: Develop data-driven models for turbulence modeling.
  • Supervisor: Professor Pedram Hassanzadeh
• From 2022: Guest lecturer
  • Rice University
  • Duties included: Lecture on hydrodynamic stability.
  • Supervisor: Professor Pedram Hassanzadeh
• 2015-2019: Research Assistant
  • University of Washington
  • Duties included: Develop computational fluid dynamics model for electrohydrodynamic flows; conduct experiments on corona discharge driven ionic wind.
  • Supervisor: Professor Igor Novosselov
• 2015-2016: Teaching Assistant
  • University of Washington
  • Duties included: Design projects, assignments, and tests; hold office hours.
  • Supervisor: Professor Steve Brunton

Skills

• Deep learning
  • Supervised learning using ANN and CNN
  • Data-driven equation discovery/system identification
  • Transfer learning
• Computational fluid dynamics
  • High-performance computing using GPU
  • Lattice Boltzmann method
  • Spectral method
  • Large-eddy simulation
  • Finite volume method
  • ANSYS ICEM/FLUENT
  • COMSOL
• Scientific computing
  • C++
  • Python
  • FORTRAN
  • MATLAB

Publications

Improvement of the Bag-Mediated Filtration System for Sampling Wastewater and Wastewater-Impacted Waters

Christine Susan Fagnant, Liliana Margarita Sánchez-Gonzalez, Nicolette A. Zhou, Jill Christin Falman, Michael Eisenstein, Dylan Guelig, Byron Ockerman et al. "Improvement of the bag-mediated filtration system for sampling wastewater and wastewater-impacted waters." Food and environmental virology 10, no. 1 (2018): 72-82.

Development of an elution device for ViroCap virus filters

Fagnant, Christine Susan, Matthew Toles, Nicolette Angela Zhou, Jacob Powell, John Adolphsen, Yifei Guan, Byron Ockerman et al. "Development of an elution device for ViroCap virus filters." Environmental monitoring and assessment 189, no. 11 (2017): 1-10.

Experimental and numerical investigation of electrohydrodynamic flow in a point-to-ring corona discharge

Yifei Guan, Ravi Sankar Vaddi, Alberto Aliseda, and Igor Novosselov. "Experimental and numerical investigation of electrohydrodynamic flow in a point-to-ring corona discharge." Physical Review Fluids 3, no. 4 (2018): 043701.

Damkohler number analysis in lean blow-out of toroidal jet stirred reactor

Yifei Guan, and Igor Novosselov. "Damkohler number analysis in lean blow-out of toroidal jet stirred reactor." Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 140, no. 10 (2018).

Analytical model of electro-hydrodynamic flow in corona discharge

Yifei Guan, Ravi Sankar Vaddi, Alberto Aliseda, and Igor Novosselov. "Analytical model of electro-hydrodynamic flow in corona discharge." Physics of plasmas 25, no. 8 (2018): 083507.

Two Relaxation Time Lattice Boltzmann Method Coupled to Fast Fourier Transform Poisson Solver: Application to Electroconvective Flow

Yifei Guan, and Igor Novosselov. "Two relaxation time lattice Boltzmann method coupled to fast Fourier transform Poisson solver: Application to electroconvective flow." Journal of computational physics 397 (2019): 108830.

Numerical Analysis of Electroconvection in Cross-flow with unipolar charge injection

Yifei Guan, and Igor Novosselov. "Numerical analysis of electroconvection in cross-flow with unipolar charge injection." Physical Review Fluids 4, no. 10 (2019): 103701.

Three-dimensional electroconvective vortices in cross flow

Yifei Guan, James Riley, and Igor Novosselov. "Three-dimensional electroconvective vortices in cross flow." Physical Review E 101, no. 3 (2020): 033103.

Numerical investigation of injection-induced electro-convection in a dielectric liquid between two eccentric cylinders

Junyu Huang, R. Deepak Selvakumar, Yifei Guan, Hanqing Li, Philippe Traoré, and Jian Wu. "Numerical investigation of injection-induced electro-convection in a dielectric liquid between two eccentric cylinders." International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 83 (2020): 108594.

Behavior of ultrafine particles in electro-hydrodynamic flow induced by corona discharge

Ravi Sankar Vaddi, Yifei Guan, and Igor Novosselov. "Behavior of ultrafine particles in electro-hydrodynamic flow induced by corona discharge." Journal of Aerosol Science 148 (2020): 105587.

Numerical Analysis of Electrohydrodynamic flows of a dielectric liquid in a wire-plate configuration with cross Poiseuille flow

Ravi Sankar Vaddi, Yifei Guan, Alexander Mamishev, and Igor Novosselov. "Analytical model for electrohydrodynamic thrust." Proceedings of the Royal Society A 476, no. 2241 (2020): 20200220.

Numerical Analysis of Electrohydrodynamic flows of a dielectric liquid in a wire-plate configuration with cross Poiseuille flow

Qi Wang, Junyu Huang, Yifei Guan, and Jian Wu. "Numerical analysis of electrohydrodynamic flows of a dielectric liquid in a wire–plate configuration with cross Poiseuille flow." Physics of Fluids 33, no. 1 (2021): 014107.

Monotonic instability and overstability in two-dimensional electrothermohydrodynamic flow

Yifei Guan, Xuerao He, Qi Wang, Zhiwei Song, Mengqi Zhang, and Jian Wu. "Monotonic instability and overstability in two-dimensional electrothermohydrodynamic flow." Physical Review Fluids 6, no. 1 (2021): 013702.

Data-driven subgrid-scale modeling of forced Burgers turbulence using deep learning with generalization to higher Reynolds numbers via transfer learning

Adam Subel, Ashesh Chattopadhyay, Yifei Guan, and Pedram Hassanzadeh. "Data-driven subgrid-scale modeling of forced Burgers turbulence using deep learning with generalization to higher Reynolds numbers via transfer learning." Physics of Fluids 33, no. 3 (2021): 031702.

Mixing and transport enhancement in microchannels by electrokinetic flows with charged surface heterogeneity

Yifei Guan, Tianhang Yang, and Jian Wu. "Mixing and transport enhancement in microchannels by electrokinetic flows with charged surface heterogeneity." Physics of Fluids 33, no. 4 (2021): 042006.

Two-relaxation time lattice Boltzmann models for the ion transport equation in electrohydrodynamic flow: D2Q5 vs D2Q9 and D3Q7 vs D3Q27

Baojie Zhu, Yifei Guan, and Jian Wu. "Two-relaxation time lattice Boltzmann models for the ion transport equation in electrohydrodynamic flow: D2Q5 vs D2Q9 and D3Q7 vs D3Q27." Physics of Fluids 33, no. 4 (2021): 044108.

Numerical investigation of instability and transition to chaos in electro-convection of dielectric liquids between concentric cylinders

Junyu Huang, Qi Wang, Yifei Guan, Zhonglin Du, R. Deepak Selvakumar, and Jian Wu. "Numerical investigation of instability and transition to chaos in electro-convection of dielectric liquids between concentric cylinders." Physics of Fluids 33, no. 4 (2021): 044112.

Chaotic electro-convection flow states of a dielectric liquid between two parallel electrodes

Qi Wang, Yifei Guan, Junyu Huang, and Jian Wu. "Chaotic electro-convection flow states of a dielectric liquid between two parallel electrodes." European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids 89, Pages 332-348 (2021).

Sparse nonlinear models of chaotic electroconvection

Yifei Guan, Steven L. Brunton, and Igor Novosselov. "Sparse nonlinear models of chaotic electroconvection." Royal Society Open Science 8, no. 8 (2021): 202367.

Experimental study of heat transfer enhancement with point-to-ring corona discharge

Shiyuan Ma, Yifei Guan, and Jian Wu. "Experimental study of heat transfer enhancement with point-to-ring corona discharge." International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (2021): 122273.

Stable a posteriori LES of 2D turbulence using convolutional neural networks: Backscattering analysis and generalization to higher Re via transfer learning

Yifei Guan, Ashesh Chattopadhyay, Adam Subel, and Pedram Hassanzadeh. "Stable a posteriori LES of 2D turbulence using convolutional neural networks: Backscattering analysis and generalization to higher Re via transfer learning." Journal of Computational Physics 2022, 458, 111090

Transition sequences and heat transfer enhancement in electro-thermo-convection of a dielectric liquid between two parallel electrodes

Qi Wang, Yifei Guan, Tao Wei, and Jian Wu. "Transition sequences and heat transfer enhancement in electro-thermo-convection of a dielectric liquid between two parallel electrodes." International Journal of Thermal Sciences 179 (2022): 107705.

Learning physics-constrained subgrid-scale closures in the small-data regime for stable and accurate LES

Yifei Guan, Adam Subel, Ashesh Chattopadhyay, and Pedram Hassanzadeh. "Learning physics-constrained subgrid-scale closures in the small-data regime for stable and accurate LES." 2022 Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, p.133568.

Enhanced heat transfer and symmetry breaking in three-dimensional electro-thermo-hydrodynamic convection

Qi Wang, Yifei Guan, and Jian Wu. "Enhanced heat transfer and symmetry breaking in three-dimensional electro-thermo-hydrodynamic convection." 2022 Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science: 09544062221136677.

Explaining the physics of transfer learning a data-driven subgrid-scale closure to a different turbulent flow

Adam Subel, Yifei Guan, Ashesh Chattopadhyay, and Pedram Hassanzadeh. "Explaining the physics of transfer learning a data-driven subgrid-scale closure to a different turbulent flow." PNAS Nexus (2023).

Numerical analysis on transition sequence and heat transfer capacity of film boiling with a uniform electric field

Wang Qi, Alberto T. Pérez, Huang JunYu, Yifei Guan, Jian Wu. "Numerical analysis on transition sequence and heat transfer capacity of film boiling with a uniform electric field." Physics of Fluids (2023).

Learning Closed-form Equations for Subgrid-scale Closures from High-fidelity Data: Promises and Challenges

Karan Jakhar, Yifei Guan, Rambod Mojgani, Ashesh Chattopadhyay, Pedram Hassanzadeh, and Laura Zanna. "Learning Closed-form Equations for Subgrid-scale Closures from High-fidelity Data: Promises and Challenges." arXiv:2306.05014v1 (2023).

Talks

Experimental, numerical and analytical investigation of electro-hydrodynamic flow in point-to-ring corona discharge

November 19, 2018

Talk at American Physical Society, Atlanta GA, USA

Numerical analysis of 2D and 3D electrohydrodynamic convection instability with crossflow

November 24, 2019

Talk at American Physical Society, Seattle WA, USA

Stable and accurate a posteriori LES of 2D turbulence with convolutional neural networks: Backscatter analysis and generalization via transfer learning

April 30, 2021

Talk at European Geosciences Union, Virtual

Data-driven subgrid-scale parameterization of turbulence in the small-data limit

November 22, 2021

Talk at American Physical Society 2021, Phoenix AZ, USA

Data-driven subgrid-scale parameterization of forced 2D turbulence in the small-data limit

December 13, 2021

Talk at AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans LA, USA

Data-driven subgrid-scale parameterization of forced 2D turbulence in the small-data limit

January 26, 2022

Talk at 102nd AMS Annual Meeting, Houston TX, USA

Teaching

Mechanical Engineering Analysis I

Mechanical Engineering Analysis II

Hydrodynamic stability

Service and leadership

• Guest Editor for the Special Issue ‘Symmetrical Mathematical Computation in Fluid Dynamics’ for the open-access journal Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). Journal website

• Regular reviewer for several journals including Journal of Electrostatics, Physics of Plasmas, Physics of Fluids, Physical Review Fluids, Physical Review E, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, Micromachines, Current Medical Imaging, Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, and Scientific Reports.