Graph Viz
Graph Viz is a standalone app for visualizing common graph algorithms. Click here to open the app.
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About Me
Zachary R. Atkins, who goes by Zach, is a computer science PhD student
at the University of Colorado Boulder specializing in high-performance computing,
computational solid mechanics, and matrix-free linear algebra for
finite element and material point methods.
Interests
- Computational Solid Mechanics
- Contact Mechanics
- Finite Element Methods
- Material Point Methods
- Matrix-Free Methods
Education
PhD Computer Science
University of Colorado Boulder
Aug 2022 –Present
MS Computer Science
University of Colorado Boulder
Aug 2022 –Dec 2025
BSc Mathematics
Highest Distinction & Honors
University of Kansas
Aug 2016 –May 2021
BSc Computer Science
Highest Distinction
University of Kansas
Aug 2016 –May 2021
📚 My Research
I’m a graduate research assistant focusing on performance, scalability, efficiency, and accuracy for simulations of complex physical systems. I contribute to open-source and publicly funded software packages for numerical linear algebra, partial differential equations, and computational mechanics.
My particular interests include finite-element-based implicit contact mechanics and implicit material point methods.
Please reach out to collaborate 😃
Featured Projects
ChordDyn
ChordDyn is a software library and collection of scripts written in Python 3 and Julia to generate novel chord progressions using chaotic trajectories overlaid onto a Tonnetz. To …
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Ratel-Runner
Ratel-Runner is a tool for optimized building and running of Ratel on high-performance computing systems.
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Ratel Implicit Material Point Method (iMPM)
Ratel iMPM is a fast, powerful material point method solver implemented in the Ratel application, capable of simulating billions of material points on thousands of GPUs.
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Arc Length Continuation in PETSc
Abstract: Traditional Newton methods with load and displacement control are unable to solve problems with limit points, bifurcations, and snap-through instabilities. Arc-length …
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Recent Publications
Zachary R. Atkins, Jed Brown, Fabio Di Gioacchino, Layla Ghaffari, Zachariah T. Irwin, Rezgar Shakeri, Karen Stengel, and Jeremy L. Thompson. 2026. Ratel: Performance portable solid mechanics with libCEED and PETSc. Journal of Open Source Software 11, 118 (2026), 8388.
Christopher J. Vogl, Zachary R. Atkins, Alyson Fox, Agnieszka Miȩdlar, and Colin Ponce. 2024. Modifying the asynchronous jacobi method for data corruption resilience. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 46, 5 (October 2024), A3258–A3281.
Lucas Erlandson, Zachary R Atkins, Alyson Fox, Christopher Vogl, Agnieszka Miedlar, and Colin Ponce. 2023. Resilient s-ACD for asynchronous collaborative solutions of systems of linear equations. September 26, 2023. 441–450.
Recent & Upcoming Talks
Grain-Resolving Simulation of Mock-High-Explosives with Ratel Implicit MPM
Ratel is a matrix-free, high-order, implicit finite element (FEM) and material point method (MPM) solid mechanics package. In this work, Ratel is used to simulate consolidation …
Addressing Numerical Challenges in Frictional Contact Simulation for Finite-Deformation Solid Mechanics
The numerical simulation of contact phenomena in implicit, finite-deformation solid mechanics codes presents significant challenges due to the introduction of nonlinear and …
Using Decentralized Learning to Reduce Communication in Column-Partitioned, Multi-Agent Systems
Multi-agent systems introduce new challenges to distributed computing, such as unreliability and a need for data localization, which require robust decentralized learning methods …
The Algorithmic Development of a Fully Asynchronous Conjugate Gradient Method
We present our novel asynchronous Krylov solver and demonstrate its robustness to communication delays.