Rate My Professor Christian Thomas

Dr. Christian Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, at Macquarie University, where he also serves as the School’s Director of Engagement and course director for Mathematics. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Mathematics in 2003 and PhD in Mathematics in 2007 from Cardiff University, with his doctoral thesis titled 'Numerical simulations of disturbance development in rotating boundary layers.' His professional career encompasses postdoctoral research associate positions at Cardiff University (2007–2008), the University of Western Australia (2008–2011), and Imperial College London (2011–2017), including a part-time role as Aerodynamic Researcher at Airbus Group Innovations in 2013. Prior to Macquarie, he held a Lectureship at Monash University (2017–2019), joining Macquarie in 2020.

Thomas's research centers on fluid dynamics, particularly laminar-turbulent transition in boundary layers, stability and receptivity mechanisms, rotating and unsteady flows, surface deformations, flow control, and nanofluids. His contributions include new insights into the global instability of the rotating-disk boundary layer, identification of a 'family-tree structure' disturbance in the Stokes layer explaining experimental instabilities, adjoint-based methods for predicting receptivity to surface roughness and optimizing flow control, and development of the RANS Extracted Boundary Layer (REBL) tool for analyzing complex separated flows. Notable publications are 'Linear stability of nanofluid boundary-layer flow over a flat plate' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2024), 'Direct numerical simulations of two-dimensional channel flow with a gap deformity and slip wall' (Computers and Fluids, 2025), 'Impulse response of linear disturbances in a skewed Stokes layer' (Physics of Fluids, 2025), 'Effect of concentric surface roughness on traveling disturbances in the rotating disk boundary layer' (Physics of Fluids, 2025), and 'Taylor swimming sheet under a finite Brinkman layer' (Physical Review Fluids, 2025). He has supervised multiple PhD students to completion, such as Silvia Ceccacci (2023) on boundary-layer separation control and Muhammad Nisar (2024) on jet instabilities. In teaching, Thomas convenes units including MATH1010 Calculus & Linear Algebra I, MATH2030 Modelling with Differential Equations, and MATH2110 Mathematical Modelling and Differential Equations, earning the Vice-Chancellor's Learning and Teaching Student-Nominated Award in 2022 for his innovative flipped classroom approaches, real-world applications like zombie apocalypse modeling, and efforts to build student confidence in mathematics.