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

    •  NEWS    MERL Researchers at NeurIPS 2025 presented 2 conference papers, 5 workshop papers, and organized a workshop.
      Date: December 2, 2025 - December 7, 2025
      Where: San Diego
      MERL Contacts: Petros T. Boufounos; Anoop Cherian; Radu Corcodel; Stefano Di Cairano; Chiori Hori; Christopher R. Laughman; Suhas Anand Lohit; Pedro Miraldo; Saviz Mowlavi; Kuan-Chuan Peng; Arvind Raghunathan; Diego Romeres; Yuki Shirai; Abraham P. Vinod; Pu (Perry) Wang
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Computational Sensing, Computer Vision, Control, Data Analytics, Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, Optimization, Robotics, Signal Processing, Speech & Audio
      Brief
      • MERL researchers presented 2 main-conference papers and 5 workshop papers, as well as organized a workshop, at NeurIPS 2025.

        Main Conference Papers:

        1) Sorachi Kato, Ryoma Yataka, Pu Wang, Pedro Miraldo, Takuya Fujihashi, and Petros Boufounos, "RAPTR: Radar-based 3D Pose Estimation using Transformer", Code available at: https://github.com/merlresearch/radar-pose-transformer

        2) Runyu Zhang, Arvind Raghunathan, Jeff Shamma, and Na Li, "Constrained Optimization From a Control Perspective via Feedback Linearization"

        Workshop Papers:

        1) Yuyou Zhang, Radu Corcodel, Chiori Hori, Anoop Cherian, and Ding Zhao, "SpinBench: Perspective and Rotation as a Lens on Spatial Reasoning in VLMs", NeuriIPS 2025 Workshop on SPACE in Vision, Language, and Embodied AI (SpaVLE) (Best Paper Runner-up)

        2) Xiaoyu Xie, Saviz Mowlavi, and Mouhacine Benosman, "Smooth and Sparse Latent Dynamics in Operator Learning with Jerk Regularization", Workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences (ML4PS)

        3) Spencer Hutchinson, Abraham Vinod, François Germain, Stefano Di Cairano, Christopher Laughman, and Ankush Chakrabarty, "Quantile-SMPC for Grid-Interactive Buildings with Multivariate Temporal Fusion Transformers", Workshop on UrbanAI: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Smart Cities (UrbanAI)

        4) Yuki Shirai, Kei Ota, Devesh Jha, and Diego Romeres, "Sim-to-Real Contact-Rich Pivoting via Optimization-Guided RL with Vision and Touch", Worskhop on Embodied World Models for Decision Making

        5) Mark Van der Merwe and Devesh Jha, "In-Context Policy Iteration for Dynamic Manipulation", Workshop on Embodied World Models for Decision Making

        Workshop Organized:

        MERL members co-organized the Multimodal Algorithmic Reasoning (MAR) Workshop (https://marworkshop.github.io/neurips25/). Organizers: Anoop Cherian (Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories), Kuan-Chuan Peng (Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories), Suhas Lohit (Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories), Honglu Zhou (Salesforce AI Research), Kevin Smith (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Joshua B. Tenenbaum (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
    •  
    •  NEWS    MERL researchers present 13 papers at ACC 2025
      Date: July 8, 2025 - July 10, 2025
      Where: Denver, USA
      MERL Contacts: Vedang M. Deshpande; Stefano Di Cairano; Purnanand Elango; Jordan Leung; Saviz Mowlavi; Diego Romeres; Abraham P. Vinod; Yebin Wang; Avishai Weiss
      Research Areas: Control, Dynamical Systems, Electric Systems, Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, Robotics
      Brief
      • MERL researchers presented 13 papers at the recently concluded American Control Conference (ACC) 2025 in Denver, USA. The papers covered a wide range of topics including Bayesian optimization for personalized medicine, machine learning for battery performance in eVTOLs, model predictive control for space and building systems, process systems engineering for sustainability, GNSS-RTK optimization, convex set manipulation, PDE control, servo system modeling, battery fault diagnosis, truck fleet coordination, interactive motion planning, and satellite station keeping. Additionally, MERL researchers (Vedang Deshpande and Ankush Chakrabarty) organized an invited session on design and optimization of energy systems.

        As a sponsor of the conference, MERL maintained a booth for open discussions with researchers and students, and hosted a special session to discuss highlights of MERL research and work philosophy.
    •  

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  • Internships with Saviz

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  • MERL Publications

    •  Joshi, A., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., "A dual ensemble Kalman filter approach to robust control of nonlinear systems: An application to partial differential equations", IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December 2025.
      BibTeX TR2025-172 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Joshi2025dec,
      • author = {Joshi, Anant and Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine},
      • title = {{A dual ensemble Kalman filter approach to robust control of nonlinear systems: An application to partial differential equations}},
      • booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)},
      • year = 2025,
      • month = dec,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-172}
      • }
    •  Xie, X., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., "Smooth and Sparse Latent Dynamics in Operator Learning with Jerk Regularization", Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences (ML4PS), December 2025.
      BibTeX TR2025-166 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Xie2025dec,
      • author = {{{Xie, Xiaoyu and Mowlavi, Saviz and Benosman, Mouhacine}}},
      • title = {{{Smooth and Sparse Latent Dynamics in Operator Learning with Jerk Regularization}}},
      • booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences (ML4PS)},
      • year = 2025,
      • month = dec,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-166}
      • }
    •  Wang, Z., Romagnoli, R., Mowlavi, S., Nakahira, Y., "Physics-Informed Deep B-Spline Networks", arXiv, October 2025.
      BibTeX arXiv
      • @article{Wang2025oct,
      • author = {Wang, Zhuoyuan and Romagnoli, Raffaele and Mowlavi, Saviz and Nakahira, Yorie},
      • title = {{Physics-Informed Deep B-Spline Networks}},
      • journal = {arXiv},
      • year = 2025,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.16777}
      • }
    •  Botvinick-Greenhouse, J., Ali, W.H., Benosman, M., Mowlavi, S., "AB-PINNs: Adaptive-Basis Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Residual-Driven Domain Decomposition Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse, Wael H. Ali, Mouhacine Benosman, Saviz Mowlavi", arXiv, October 2025.
      BibTeX arXiv
      • @article{Botvinick-Greenhouse2025oct,
      • author = {Botvinick-Greenhouse, Jonah and Ali, Wael H. and Benosman, Mouhacine and Mowlavi, Saviz},
      • title = {{AB-PINNs: Adaptive-Basis Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Residual-Driven Domain Decomposition Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse, Wael H. Ali, Mouhacine Benosman, Saviz Mowlavi}},
      • journal = {arXiv},
      • year = 2025,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08924}
      • }
    •  Zhang, X., Mowlavi, S., Benosman, M., Basar, T., "Policy Optimization for PDE Control with a Warm Start", American Control Conference (ACC), DOI: 10.23919/​ACC63710.2025.11107977, July 2025, pp. 3539-3544.
      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,
      • pages = {3539--3544},
      • month = jul,
      • publisher = {IEEE},
      • doi = {10.23919/ACC63710.2025.11107977},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-105}
      • }
    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