Dr Katrine Rogers

Professional biography

I am a senior lecturer/regional academic (staff tutor) in the Applied Mathematics group in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, where I contribute to teaching as part of module teams, carry out research and support associate lecturers.

I was at the University of Southampton before joining the OU, where I specialised in mathematical modelling and numerical simulations, first as a PhD student in Physics and Astronomy, and then as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR). This followed on from my MMath at the University of Bath.

Research interests

My primary research interest is in optimising superoscillatory functions, which have wide and groundbreaking applications. Superoscillation is the phenomenon where a bandlimited function oscillates faster than its fastest Fourier component. An example of its application is in taking images using optical instruments: it was previously thought that the resolution we can achieve in such images was fundamentally limited, but with superoscillations there is, in principle, no limit to the achievable resolution. This opens up the possibility of taking much more detailed images of the microscopic world, for example of details within human cells.

My previous research has included mathematical modelling of a range of applications, from modelling wave propagation in structural engineering to modelling electron and photon interactions in the vicinity of black holes. A recurring theme is novel approaches to numerical simulations and optimisation, including work on genetic algorithms, semi-analytic techniques and finite element methods.