Rate My Professor Christopher Lustri

Dr. Christopher Lustri serves as Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University. He completed a BEng (Hons) and BAppSci (Hons) at Queensland University of Technology, followed by a DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Jon Chapman. After his doctorate, Lustri undertook a postdoctoral position at the University of Sydney with Prof. Nalini Joshi before joining Macquarie University in 2016 as a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics. He advanced to Senior Lecturer and took on the role of Discipline Lead in Applied Mathematics within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Currently, he holds an honorary position at Macquarie while serving as Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney's School of Mathematics and Statistics.

Lustri's research focuses on asymptotic methods, particularly exponential asymptotics in differential and difference equations, the ordinary and higher-order Stokes phenomenon, and multiple scales techniques on discrete domains. His work also encompasses fluid dynamics, including free-surface flows, water waves, and air bubble formation in viscous fluids, as well as discrete systems such as solitary wave behavior in particle chains and lattices, and bifurcations in discrete systems. He has secured major funding through Australian Research Council Discovery Projects, including 'A new asymptotic toolbox for nonlinear discrete systems and particle chains' (2019–2022) and 'Modern Asymptotic Methods for Granular Particle Chains' (2017–ongoing), as well as a Discovery Fellowship (2019–2021). Notable awards include the J. H. Michell Medal in 2023 from ANZIAM for distinguished research in applied and industrial mathematics, and the Faculty Excellence Award in 2020 for inter-departmental collaboration. Key publications feature 'Observation of the universality of nonlinear mode coupling in a fibre laser' (Nature Communications, 2025), 'On the selection of Saffman-Taylor viscous fingers for divergent flow in a wedge' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2024), 'Exponential asymptotics of woodpile chain nanoptera using numerical analytic continuation' (Studies in Applied Mathematics, 2023), 'A note on the Stokes phenomenon in flow under an elastic sheet' (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 2020), and 'Three-dimensional capillary waves due to a submerged source with small surface tension' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2019). Lustri supervises PhD and honours projects on topics like exponentially-small gravity-capillary waves, near-solitary wave dynamics in particle chains, asymptotic studies of discrete integrable systems, and Hele-Shaw flow interfaces.