Saviz Mowlavi

Saviz Mowlavi
Saviz's Quick Links

  • Biography

    Saviz works on physics-informed and data-driven model reduction techniques for high-dimensional dynamical systems, with applications in fast simulation, design optimization, and real-time estimation and control in areas such as airflow dynamics and acoustics. During his PhD, he developed computational methods blending physics and ML to solve various forward and inverse problems in continuum mechanics.

  • Recent News & Events


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  • Internships with Saviz

    • ST0105: Internship - Surrogate Modeling for Sound Propagation

      MERL is seeking a motivated and qualified individual to work on fast surrogate models for sound emission and propagation from complex vibrating structures, with applications in HVAC noise reduction. The ideal candidate will be a PhD student in engineering or related fields with a solid background in frequency-domain acoustic modeling and numerical techniques for partial differential equations (PDEs). Preferred skills include knowledge of the boundary element method (BEM), data-driven modeling, and physics-informed machine learning. Publication of the results obtained during the internship is expected. The duration is expected to be at least 3 months with a flexible start date.

    See All Internships at MERL

  • MERL Publications

    •  Zhang, X., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., Basar, T., "Policy Optimization for PDE Control with a Warm Start", American Control Conference (ACC), July 2025.
      BibTeX TR2025-105 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Zhang2025jul,
      • author = {Zhang, Xiangyuan and Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine and Basar, Tamer},
      • title = {{Policy Optimization for PDE Control with a Warm Start}},
      • booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
      • year = 2025,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-105}
      • }
    •  Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., "Reinforcement Learning-Based Estimation for Spatio-Temporal Systems", Nature Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/​s41598-024-72055-1, Vol. 14, pp. 22464, October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-134 PDF
      • @article{Mowlavi2024oct,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine},
      • title = {{Reinforcement Learning-Based Estimation for Spatio-Temporal Systems}},
      • journal = {Nature Scientific Reports},
      • year = 2024,
      • volume = 14,
      • pages = 22464,
      • month = oct,
      • doi = {10.1038/s41598-024-72055-1},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-134}
      • }
    •  Zhang, X., Mao, W., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., Basar, T., "Controlgym: Large-Scale Control Environments for Benchmarking Reinforcement Learning Algorithms", Learning for Dynamics & Control Conference (L4DC), July 2024, pp. 181-196.
      BibTeX TR2024-098 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Zhang2024jul2,
      • author = {Zhang, Xiangyuan and Mao, Weichao and Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine and Basar, Tamer},
      • title = {{Controlgym: Large-Scale Control Environments for Benchmarking Reinforcement Learning Algorithms}},
      • booktitle = {Learning for Dynamics \& Control Conference (L4DC)},
      • year = 2024,
      • pages = {181--196},
      • month = jul,
      • publisher = {PMLR},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-098}
      • }
    •  Schperberg, A., Tanaka, Y., Mowlavi, S., Xu, F., Balaji, B., Hong, D., "OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-054 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Schperberg2024may,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Mowlavi, Saviz and Xu, Feng and Balaji, Bharathan and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {{OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering}},
      • booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = may,
      • publisher = {IEEE},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-054}
      • }
    •  Zhang, X., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., Basar, T., "Policy Optimization for PDE Control with a Warm Start", arXiv, March 2024.
      BibTeX arXiv
      • @article{Zhang2024mar,
      • author = {Zhang, Xiangyuan and Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine and Basar, Tamer},
      • title = {{Policy Optimization for PDE Control with a Warm Start}},
      • journal = {arXiv},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = mar,
      • url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.01005}
      • }
    See All MERL Publications for Saviz

  • Other Publications

    •  Saviz Mowlavi and Ken Kamrin, "Topology optimization with physics-informed neural networks: application to noninvasive detection of hidden geometries", arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.09280, 2023.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2023topology,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Kamrin, Ken},
      • title = {Topology optimization with physics-informed neural networks: application to noninvasive detection of hidden geometries},
      • journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.09280},
      • year = 2023
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi, Mattia Serra, Enrico Maiorino and L Mahadevan, "Detecting Lagrangian coherent structures from sparse and noisy trajectory data", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 948, pp. A4, 2022.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2022detecting,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Serra, Mattia and Maiorino, Enrico and Mahadevan, L},
      • title = {Detecting Lagrangian coherent structures from sparse and noisy trajectory data},
      • journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics},
      • year = 2022,
      • volume = 948,
      • pages = {A4},
      • publisher = {Cambridge University Press}
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi and Ken Kamrin, "Contact model for elastically anisotropic bodies and efficient implementation into the discrete element method", Granular Matter, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 1-29, 2021.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2021contact,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Kamrin, Ken},
      • title = {Contact model for elastically anisotropic bodies and efficient implementation into the discrete element method},
      • journal = {Granular Matter},
      • year = 2021,
      • volume = 23,
      • number = 2,
      • pages = {1--29},
      • publisher = {Springer}
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi and Ken Kamrin, "Interplay between hysteresis and nonlocality during onset and arrest of flow in granular materials", Soft Matter, Vol. 17, No. 31, pp. 7359-7375, 2021.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2021interplay,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Kamrin, Ken},
      • title = {Interplay between hysteresis and nonlocality during onset and arrest of flow in granular materials},
      • journal = {Soft Matter},
      • year = 2021,
      • volume = 17,
      • number = 31,
      • pages = {7359--7375},
      • publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}
      • }
    •  Isha Shukla, Fan Wang, Saviz Mowlavi, Amy Guyomard, Xiangdong Liang, Steven G Johnson and J-C Nave, "Reduced model for capillary breakup with thermal gradients: Predictions and computational validation", Physics of Fluids, Vol. 33, No. 12, pp. 122003, 2021.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{shukla2021reduced,
      • author = {Shukla, Isha and Wang, Fan and Mowlavi, Saviz and Guyomard, Amy and Liang, Xiangdong and Johnson, Steven G and Nave, J-C},
      • title = {Reduced model for capillary breakup with thermal gradients: Predictions and computational validation},
      • journal = {Physics of Fluids},
      • year = 2021,
      • volume = 33,
      • number = 12,
      • pages = 122003,
      • publisher = {AIP Publishing LLC}
      • }
    •  Antoine Blanchard, Saviz Mowlavi and Themistoklis P Sapsis, "Control of linear instabilities by dynamically consistent order reduction on optimally time-dependent modes", Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 2745-2764, 2019.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{blanchard2019control,
      • author = {Blanchard, Antoine and Mowlavi, Saviz and Sapsis, Themistoklis P},
      • title = {Control of linear instabilities by dynamically consistent order reduction on optimally time-dependent modes},
      • journal = {Nonlinear Dynamics},
      • year = 2019,
      • volume = 95,
      • number = 4,
      • pages = {2745--2764},
      • publisher = {Springer}
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi, Isha Shukla, P-T Brun and François Gallaire, "Particle size selection in capillary instability of locally heated coaxial fiber", Physical Review Fluids, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 064003, 2019.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2019particle,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Shukla, Isha and Brun, P-T and Gallaire, Fran{\c{c}}ois},
      • title = {Particle size selection in capillary instability of locally heated coaxial fiber},
      • journal = {Physical Review Fluids},
      • year = 2019,
      • volume = 4,
      • number = 6,
      • pages = 064003,
      • publisher = {APS}
      • }
    •  Cristóbal Arratia, Saviz Mowlavi and François Gallaire, "Absolute/convective secondary instabilities and the role of confinement in free shear layers", Physical Review Fluids, Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 053901, 2018.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{arratia2018absolute,
      • author = {Arratia, Crist{\'o}bal and Mowlavi, Saviz and Gallaire, Fran{\c{c}}ois},
      • title = {Absolute/convective secondary instabilities and the role of confinement in free shear layers},
      • journal = {Physical Review Fluids},
      • year = 2018,
      • volume = 3,
      • number = 5,
      • pages = 053901,
      • publisher = {APS}
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi and Themistoklis P Sapsis, "Model order reduction for stochastic dynamical systems with continuous symmetries", SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. A1669-A1695, 2018.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2018model,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Sapsis, Themistoklis P},
      • title = {Model order reduction for stochastic dynamical systems with continuous symmetries},
      • journal = {SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing},
      • year = 2018,
      • volume = 40,
      • number = 3,
      • pages = {A1669--A1695},
      • publisher = {SIAM}
      • }
    •  Saviz Mowlavi, Cristóbal Arratia and François Gallaire, "Spatio-temporal stability of the Kármán vortex street and the effect of confinement", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 795, pp. 187-209, 2016.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2016spatio,
      • author = {Mowlavi, Saviz and Arratia, Crist{\'o}bal and Gallaire, Fran{\c{c}}ois},
      • title = {Spatio-temporal stability of the K{\'a}rm{\'a}n vortex street and the effect of confinement},
      • journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics},
      • year = 2016,
      • volume = 795,
      • pages = {187--209},
      • publisher = {Cambridge University Press}
      • }
    •  S Mowlavi, J Engmann, A Burbidge, R Lloyd, P Hayoun, B Le Reverend and M Ramaioli, "In vivo observations and in vitro experiments on the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian and shear-thinning liquids", Journal of Biomechanics, Vol. 49, No. 16, pp. 3788-3795, 2016.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{mowlavi2016vivo,
      • author = {Mowlavi, S and Engmann, J and Burbidge, A and Lloyd, R and Hayoun, P and Le Reverend, B and Ramaioli, M},
      • title = {In vivo observations and in vitro experiments on the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian and shear-thinning liquids},
      • journal = {Journal of Biomechanics},
      • year = 2016,
      • volume = 49,
      • number = 16,
      • pages = {3788--3795},
      • publisher = {Elsevier}
      • }
    •  P Hayoun, J Engmann, S Mowlavi, B Le Reverend, A Burbidge and M Ramaioli, "A model experiment to understand the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian liquids", Journal of biomechanics, Vol. 48, No. 14, pp. 3922-3928, 2015.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{hayoun2015model,
      • author = {Hayoun, P and Engmann, J and Mowlavi, S and Le Reverend, B and Burbidge, A and Ramaioli, M},
      • title = {A model experiment to understand the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian liquids},
      • journal = {Journal of biomechanics},
      • year = 2015,
      • volume = 48,
      • number = 14,
      • pages = {3922--3928},
      • publisher = {Elsevier}
      • }

  • MERL Issued Patents

    • Title: "Time-varying reinforcement learning for robust adaptive estimator design with application to HVAC flow control"
      Inventors: Nabi, Saleh; Benosman, Mouhacine; Mowlavi, Saviz
      Patent No.: 12,313,276
      Issue Date: May 27, 2025
    See All Patents for MERL