Rate My Professor Anja Slim

Anja Slim is an Associate Professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences and a Senior Lecturer in both the School of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University, Faculty of Science. She is also a Larkins Fellow and a member of the interdisciplinary mathematics platform MAXIMA. Her academic background is in applied mathematics with a specialization in fluid dynamics. She received her Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge, where she conducted research under the supervision of Herbert Huppert. Following her doctoral studies, Slim held a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia working with Neil Balmforth. She then served as an industry-funded postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University with L. Mahadevan. Prior to joining Monash University, she spent three years as a research scientist at Schlumberger, focusing on carbon capture and storage and enhanced oil recovery. At Monash, she coordinates and teaches units such as MTH3360 Fluid Dynamics, MTH4360 Fluid Dynamics, and MTH5341 Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence.

Slim's research lies at the intersection of applied mathematics and geosciences, addressing fluid dynamical problems relevant to geology and industrial processes. Her interests include the transport mechanisms of very dense sulfide melts into mineable ore deposits and the practicality of carbon capture and storage for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. She combines theoretical analysis, numerical simulations, and laboratory experiments, emphasizing rigorous reduction of models to their essential features. Key publications include 'Superwalking Droplets' with Valani, Simula (Physical Review Letters, 2019); 'Solutal-convection regimes in a two-dimensional porous medium' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2014); 'Propagation of a viscous gravity current beneath a granular mush' with Hinton (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2024); 'Dynamics and containment of a viscous liquid atop a granular bed' with Hinton (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2023); and 'Mineralogy and geochemistry of pattern formation in zebra rock from the East Kimberley, Australia' with Coward et al. (Chemical Geology, 2023). She has received Australian Research Council (ARC) grants, including '$The fluid dynamics of intrusions' (2022–2025) and a Discovery Project award of $770,401 for 2026. Her research outputs have garnered over 1,400 citations, contributing to advancements in understanding magmatic ore formation and fluid processes in porous media.