Dr Claire Maria Postlethwaite

PhD

Associate Professor

In: Mathematics » Faculty of Science

Biography

Claire is an Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2006, and moved to New Zealand after two years of post-docs in the USA. Her background is in the area of applied dynamical systems, but her interests range from theoretical studies of differential equations to using applications of mathematics to understand animal behaviour and navigation. Her research has resulted in several awards, including the New Zealand Mathematics Society Early Career Award for Mathematical Research (2011) and the University of Auckland’s Early Career Research Excellence Award (2013).

Claire is currently looking for two well-qualified PhD students to work on her recently-funded Marsden research project "Noisy networks: understanding how stochasticity affects mathematical models of cognitive systems". For more details please see the advert here: https://goo.gl/hZHrJx

Research | Current

I have a wide range of interests in the area of dynamical systems theory and applications to control and biological systems. I have made contributions to the dynamical systems literature in the areas of: heteroclinic cycles and networks; time-delayed feedback control; delay-differential equations; coupled cell dynamics; noise-induced dynamics; bifurcation theory. I have also worked in mathematical ecology, specializing in models of animal navigation, and animal movement and models of behaviour.

Teaching | Current

I regularly make contributions to the following courses:

Maths 190
Maths 260
Maths 340
Maths 761

Postgraduate supervision

PhD students

Rebecca Turner (Mathematical models of animal navigation)

Master's students

Valerie Jeong (Evolutionary robotics and dynamical systems)
Nidia Jackson (Evolutionary robotics and dynamical systems)

Honours students

Nelson Wong (Evolutionary robotics and dynamical systems)

Distinctions/Honours

2013, Early Career Research Excellence Award, University of Auckland

2011, Early Career Award for Mathematical Research, New Zealand Mathematical Society

2011, Early Career Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Science, University of Auckland

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Postlethwaite, C. M., & Rucklidge, A. M. (2019). A trio of heteroclinic bifurcations arising from a model of spatially-extended Rock-Paper-Scissors. NONLINEARITY, 32 (4), 1375-1407. 10.1088/1361-6544/aaf530
Ashwin, P., & Postlethwaite, C. (2018). Sensitive Finite-State Computations Using a Distributed Network With a Noisy Network Attractor. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, 1-12. 10.1109/TNNLS.2018.2813404
Keane, A., Krauskopf, B., & Postlethwaite, C. M. (2017). Climate models with delay differential equations. Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 27 (11)10.1063/1.5006923
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/45515
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Andrew Keane, Bernd Krauskopf
Postlethwaite, C. M., & Rucklidge, A. M. (2017). Spirals and heteroclinic cycles in a spatially extended Rock-Paper-Scissors model of cyclic dominance. EPL (Europhysics Letters), 117 (4)10.1209/0295-5075/117/48006
Turner, R. M., Walker, M. M., & Postlethwaite, C. M. (2016). Literal grid map models for animal navigation: Assumptions and predictions. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 404, 169-181. 10.1016/j.jtbi.2016.05.038
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/30734
Ashwin, P., & Postlethwaite, C. (2016). Designing heteroclinic and excitable networks in phase space using two populations of coupled cells. Journal of Nonlinear Science, 26 (2), 345-364. 10.1007/s00332-015-9277-2
Ashwin, P., & Postlethwaite, C. (2016). Quantifying noisy attractors: From heteroclinic to excitable networks. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 15 (4), 1989-2016. 10.1137/16M1061813
Keane, A. A., Krauskopf, B., & Postlethwaite, C. (2016). Investigating irregular behavior in a model for the El Nin͂o Southern Oscillation with positive and negative delayed feedback. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 15 (3), 1656-1689. 10.1137/16M1063605
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Andrew Keane, Bernd Krauskopf