Ashley Zhu
Hunter College High School
New York, New York
Curve Shortening Flow on n-Loop Curves
Ashley studied how a process called curve-shortening flow acts
on a type of curves that intersect themselves, called n-loop curves.
Ashley Zhu, 17, of Bayside, New York, studied how a process called curve-shortening flow acts on self-intersecting curves for her Regeneron Science Talent Search mathematics project. She focused on n-loop curves, a type of curved line in which the different parts intersect. It’s a generalized idea of a figure-eight curve.
In her project, Ashley coded a curve-shortening flow simulation and found that a three-loop curve existing under specific conditions was unique. She has also made progress toward solving a question about five-loop curves. Her work adds to the understanding of curve-shortening flow. It could have applications in certain chemical systems, image processing and computer vision.
Ashley, the daughter of Xiaowei Xu and Xinze Zhu, attends Hunter College High School (New York City), where she leads the school’s math team. She also captains the New York City Math Team and attended the Mathematical Olympiad Program, Canada/USA Mathcamp and MIT’s Research Science Institute.
Beyond the Project
Ashley is co-founder and president of Math Koritsia, a middle school math competition for girls and nonbinary kids.
FUN FACTS: Ashley is editor-in-chief of Hunter’s Radicals (math) and Precipice (environmental) magazines. She is also president of the Hunter Immigration Youth Alliance.
