University Scholarship
Publications and Grants

Valeria Barra

vbarra@sdsu.eduorcid.org/0000-0003-1129-2056

Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, 2024-Present
    Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, US
  • Research Software Engineer, 2020-2024
    California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, US
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2018-2020
    Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, US

  • PhD, 2012-2018
    Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, US
  • Master of Science, 2008-2011
    Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, IT
  • Bachelor of Sciece, 2005-2008
    Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, IT

  • Faculty sponsor, 2026-Present
    SDSU AWM chapter, Association For Women in Mathematics, Fairfax, Virginia, US
  • Member, 2019-2020
    Association for Women in Science, Alexandria, Virginia, US
  • Member, 2019-2020
    European Women in Mathematics, Aalto, Finland, FI
  • Member, 2019-2020
    Women in High Performance Computing, Edinburgh, Scotland, GB
  • Program for Excellence in Science, nominated by the Associate Provost for Graduate Studies & Dean of the Graduate Faculty at NJIT, 2016-2019
    American Association For The Advancement of Science, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, US

  • Member, 2015-2019
    Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, US
  • Member, 2014-2019
    Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, PA, US
  • Member, 2013-2015
    American Physical Society, College Park, MD, US

  • Advisory Board member and Workshops/Tutorials Organizer, 2019-2020
    Postdoctoral Association Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, US
  • Member and poster session judge, 2017-2020
    American Mathematical Society, RI, RI, US
  • Member and Poster Judge, 2015-2018
    Scientista Foundation, New York City, NY, US
  • Treasurer, 2014-2016
    NJIT Student Chapter, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, PA, US

Profile updated October 8, 2026.

Grants

POSE: Phase I: An Open-Source Ecosystem for the Mimetic Operators Library Enhanced (MOLE)
Valeria Barra
Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, 2024 - 2025, USD 320,000.00
Artificial intelligence Machine learning Open source software Operator theory
Early Career Travel Award from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Valeria Barra
National Science Foundation, 2019 - 2019, USD 2,500.00
Applied mathematics Awards Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Early Career Travel Award from the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Valeria Barra
National Science Foundation, 2018 - 2019, USD 650.00
Applied mathematics Awards Career development Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Ahluwalia Doctoral Fellowship Award
Valeria Barra
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2017 - 2018, USD 1,000.00
Ahluwalia, H. P. S. Awards Scholarships

Scholarship

Academic Publications

The Climate Modeling Alliance Atmosphere Dynamical Core: Concepts, Numerics, and Scaling
Dennis Yatunin; Simon Byrne; Charles Kawczynski; Sriharsha Kandala; Gabriele Bozzola; Akshay Sridhar; Zhaoyi Shen; Anna Jaruga; Julia Sloan; Jia He; Daniel Zhengyu Huang; Valeria Barra; et al.
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 2026, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 1
Atmospheric science Computer simulation Numerical analysis
The Flux-Differencing Discontinuous Galerkin Method Applied to an Idealized Fully Compressible Nonhydrostatic Dry Atmosphere
Souza, A.N.; He, J.; Bischoff, T.; Waruszewski, M.; Novak, L.; Valeria Barra; et al.
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 2023, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 19
Atmospheric physics Computational fluid dynamics Galerkin methods Numerical analysis
Thin viscoelastic dewetting films of Jeffreys type subjected to gravity and substrate interactions
Valeria Barra; Afkhami, Shahriar; Kondic, Lou
Arxiv, 2022, journal article
Gravity Rheology Thin films Viscoelasticity
Performance-Portable Solid Mechanics via Matrix-Free <italic>p</italic>-Multigrid
Brown, J.; Brown, Jed; Valeria Barra; et al.
Arxiv, 2022, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 8
Computational physics Multigrid methods (Numerical analysis) Numerical analysis
Effects of fluid–fluid interfacial properties on the dynamics of bounded viscoelastic thin liquid films
Adeyemi, B.; Bamikole Adeyemi; Valeria Barra; et al.
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 2022, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 5
Fluids Interfaces (Physical sciences) Thin films Viscoelasticity

The Flux-Differencing Discontinuous Galerkin Method Applied to an Idealized Fully Compressible Nonhydrostatic Dry Atmosphere
Andre Souza; Jia He; Tobias Bischoff; Maciej Waruszewski; Lenka Novak; Valeria Barra; et al.
2022, preprint, Cited by: OpenAlex: 1
Atmospheric physics Finite element method Galerkin methods Numerical analysis
GPU algorithms for Efficient Exascale Discretizations
Abdelfattah, A.; Abdelfattah, Ahmad; Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
Parallel Computing, 2021, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 41
Algorithms Exascale computing High performance computing Numerical analysis
Efficient exascale discretizations: High-order finite element methods
Kolev, T.; Kolev, Tzanio; Fischer, P.; Fischer, Paul; Min, M.; Min, Misun; Dongarra, J.; Dongarra, Jack; Brown, J.; Brown, Jed; Dobrev, V.; Dobrev, Veselin; Warburton, T.; Warburton, Tim; Tomov, S.; Tomov, Stanimire; Shephard, M.S.; Shephard, Mark S.; Abdelfattah, A.; Abdelfattah, Ahmad; Valeria Barra; et al.
International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications, 2021, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 67
Exascale computing Finite element method Mathematics Numerical analysis
libCEED: Fast algebra for high-order element-based discretizations
Brown, Jed; Jed Brown; Abdelfattah, Ahmad; Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
Journal of Open Source Software, 2021, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 22
Algebra Finite element method High performance computing Numerical analysis
Call to update US re-entry rules for international researchers
Alice Braga; Braga, A.; Francioni, V.; Valerio Francioni; Valeria Barra; et al.
Nature, 2021, journal article
Emigration and immigration law Science and state Visas
Efficient residual and matrix-free jacobian evaluation for three-dimensional tri-quadratic hexahedral finite elements with nearly-incompressible neo-hookean hyperelasticity applied to soft materials on unstructured meshes in parallel, with petsc and libceed
Mehraban, A.; Mehraban, Arash; Brown, J.; Brown, Jed; Valeria Barra; et al.
Asme International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (Imece), 2020, journal article
Finite element method Jacobians Materials science Numerical analysis
Thin viscoelastic dewetting films of Jeffreys type subjected to gravity and substrate interactions
Valeria Barra; Afkhami, S.; Kondic, L.
European Physical Journal E, 2019, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 8
Gravity Rheology Thin films Viscoelasticity
CEED ECP Milestone Report: Public release of CEED 2.0
Jed Brown; Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
Zenodo, 2019, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 2
Computer engineering High performance computing Software engineering
CEED ECP Milestone Report: Improved Support for Parallel Adaptive Simulation in CEED
Mark Shephard; Stanimire Tomov; Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
2019, journal article
Composite applications (Computer science) Computer applications software series Computer simulation High performance computing Numerical analysis Software frameworks
Numerical Simulations of thin viscoelastic films
Valeria Barra
2018, dissertation thesis
Numerical analysis Simulation methods Thin films Viscoelastic materials
Numerical simulations of nearly incompressible viscoelastic membranes
Valeria Barra; Chester, S.A.; Shawn A. Chester; Afkhami, S.; Shahriar Afkhami
Computers & Fluids, 2018, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 3
Continuum mechanics Fluid dynamics Viscoelastic materials
Interfacial dynamics of thin viscoelastic films and drops
Valeria Barra; et al.
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 2016, journal article, Cited by: OpenAlex: 21
Drops Fluid mechanics Thin films Viscoelasticity

Academic Conferences

libCEED – The Finite Elements library without elements
Valeria Barra; Jeremy Thompson; Leila Ghaffari; Jed Brown
Figshare, 2021, conference poster
Computational science and engineering Finite element method Numerical analysis
SIMULATING COMPRESSIBLE AND NEARLY-INCOMPRESSIBLE LINEAR ELASTICITY USING AN EFFICIENT PARALLEL SCALABLE MATRIX-FREE HIGH-ORDER FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
A. Mehraban; Mehraban, A.; J. Thompson; Thompson, J.; Brown, J.; J. Brown; R. Regueiro; Regueiro, R.; Valeria Barra; et al.
World Congress in Computational Mechanics and Eccomas Congress, 2021, conference paper
Finite element method Lewis Research Center. Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion Numerical analysis U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics
High-performance operator evaluations with ease of use: libCEED's Python interface
Valeria Barra; Jed Brown; Jeremy Thompson; Yohann Dudouit
Python in Science Conference, 2020, conference paper
Computer interfaces High performance computing Numerical analysis User-centered system design
Towards Exascale Computing: Vectorized Operator Evaluations on Heterogeneous Architectures with libCEED
Valeria Barra
European Symposium on Computing (Esco) 2020, 2020, conference abstract
Computer architecture Exascale computing High performance computing Software frameworks
Efficient Solver Composition with High-order Methods
Valeria Barra
Siam Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (Cse19), 2019, conference abstract
Computational science and engineering Mathematical optimization Numerical analysis

Interfacial dynamics of thin viscoelastic films and membranes
Valeria Barra
2019, conference abstract
Membranes (Biology) Rheology Thin films Viscoelasticity
Performance Portability with Matrix-Free Finite Element Operators
Valeria Barra
2019, conference poster
Finite element method High performance computing Numerical analysis
Efficient representation of high-order operators for the numerical solution of PDEs
Valeria Barra
1St Women in Mathematics Meeting (Wm 2 ) in Portugal, 2019, conference abstract
Algorithms Computer science Differential equations, Partial Numerical analysis
On performance portability and library reuse: A Navier-Stokes miniapp
Valeria Barra
International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (Iciam19), 2019, conference abstract
Computational fluid dynamics Fluid mechanics High performance computing Navier-Stokes equations
libCEED - Lightweight High-Order Finite Elements Library with Performance Portability and Extensibility
Valeria Barra
Supercomputing, 2019, conference poster
Computational science and engineering Computer programming Finite element method Numerical analysis
libCEED: Lightweight High-Order Finite Elements Library
Valeria Barra
Women in Hpc Workshop at Supercomputing19, 2019, conference abstract
Computer science Finite element method High performance computing Numerical analysis
Numerical simulations of thin viscoelastic films
Valeria Barra
Ams Joint Mathematics Meeting, 2018, conference abstract
Numerical analysis Rheology Thin films Viscoelastic materials
The problem of freezing of copper water heat pipes
Valeria Barra
Thirty-Fourth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, 2018, conference abstract
Copper Freezing points Heat pipes Water
Gravity-driven instabilities of thin viscoelastic films on an inverted plane
Valeria Barra
Frontiers in Applied and Computational Mathematics, 2017, conference poster
Fluid dynamics Mechanics Rheology Viscoelasticity
Wetting and dewetting of thin viscoelastic drops
Valeria Barra
Siam Annual Meeting, 2016, conference abstract
Drops Rheology Viscoelasticity Wetting
Analysis and simulations for interfacial instability of thin viscoelastic liquid films
Valeria Barra
The Third Annual Northeast Complex Fluids and Soft Matter Workshop, 2015, conference abstract
Fluid dynamics Liquid films Numerical analysis Thin films
Numerical study of thin layers of viscoelastic fluids
Valeria Barra
Scientista Symposium, 2015, conference poster
Non-Newtonian fluids Numerical analysis Rheology Viscoelasticity
Numerical study of thin viscoelastic films on substrates
Valeria Barra
Siam Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (Cse15), 2015, conference poster
Elasticity Numerical analysis Thin films Viscoelasticity
Surface instabilities and droplets formation in thin viscoelastic films
Valeria Barra
Graduate Students Research Day, 2015, conference poster
Fluid dynamics Rheology Thin films Viscoelasticity
Interfacial instability of thin viscoelastic liquid films
Valeria Barra
Graduate Students Research Day, 2014, conference poster
Fluid dynamics Liquids Surface tension Viscoelasticity
Linear stability analysis of thin viscoelastic liquid of Jeffreys type with van der Waals interaction
Valeria Barra
Frontiers in Applied and Computational Mathematics, 2014, conference poster
Liquids Rheology Van der Waals forces Viscoelasticity

Dissemination

CEED ECP Milestone Report: Improve performance and capabilities of CEED-enabled ECP applications on Summit/Sierra
Tzanio Kolev; Paul Fischer; Ahmad Abdelfattah; Shreyas Ananthan; Valeria Barra; et al.
Zenodo, 2020, report

Other

MOLE User Manual
Valeria Barra; et al.
Zenodo, 2026, other
libCEED User Manual
Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
Zenodo, 2023, other
Numerical Simulations of Nearly Incompressible Viscoelastic Membranes
Valeria Barra; Chester, S.A.; Afkhami, S.
Arxiv, 2022, other
Thin viscoelastic dewetting films of Jeffreys type subjected to gravity and substrate interactions
Valeria Barra; Afkhami, S.; Kondic, L.
Arxiv, 2022, other
libCEED User Manual
Ahmad Abdelfattah; Valeria Barra; et al.
Zenodo, 2021, other