Margherita Castellano

I’m a PhD candidate in Applied Mathematics at CMAP, École Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France), where I work on the mathematical modeling, numerical analysis, and simulation of coupled multiphysics systems — specifically a system of two Cahn-Hilliard equations coupled with Navier-Stokes, using finite volume methods. I’m broadly interested in applying quantitative and analytical tools to real-world problems in fluid mechanics and PDEs.

Before my PhD, I did a master’s in Applied Mathematics at Sorbonne University (Partial Differential Equations and Numerical Analysis), after a first year of a master’s in Mathematics for Life and Social Sciences at the University of Trento, a bachelor’s in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Bordeaux, and a year abroad at UC Berkeley.

Alongside my research, I’m a teaching assistant at École Polytechnique and I organize the PhD seminars at CMAP. In 2026 I was a national finalist of MT180 (Ma thèse en 180 secondes), a three-minute thesis competition for a general audience — see the outreach page for the videos of the local, regional, and national rounds.

I was recently featured in École Polytechnique’s news, “Margherita Castellano, des bulles et des maths”.