Olga Vasilyeva
Associate Professor
Program: Mathematics
Email: ovasilyeva@mun.ca
Phone: 709-639-2597
Office: AS 3014
Credentials
BSc in Applied Mathematics (1995), Novosibirsk State University, Russia
MSc in Applied Mathematics (2001), University of Notre Dame, USA
PhD in Mathematics (2011), University of Ottawa
Research interests
Mathematical Biology, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations
Teaching
MATH 1000, 1001, 1090, 2260, 3132, 4191, 4292, 4950, 495A/B
Representative scholarly contributions
Peer-reviewed publications
1. Olga Vasilyeva, Dylan Smith, Frithjof Lutscher, Evolution of dispersal in river networks, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 86,140 (2024).
2. Abby Anderson, Olga Vasilyeva, Prevailing winds and spruce budworm outbreaks: a reaction-diffusion-advection model, Mathematics in Applied Sciences and Engineering, vol. 2 (4) (2021), 219-309.
Invited conference talks
2024 Winter Meeting of Canadian Mathematical Society
Vancouver, BC, November 29 – December 2, 2024
Special Session “Recent Advances in Differential Equations and Applications”, talk title: Steady states and evolution of dispersal in river networks
2024 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Applied
and Industrial Mathematics (CAIMS 2024)
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, June 2024
Special Session “New challenges and new faces in mathematical ecology”, alk title: Steady states and evolution of dispersal in river networks
13th American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Conference
on Dynamical Systems, Differential Equations and Applications
University of North Carolina in Wilmington, NC, USA, June 2023
Special session “Nonlinear Differential and Difference Equations
with Applications to Population Dynamics”
Talk title: Two examples of using phase plane analysis in nonlinear RDA models
2022 Canadian Mathematical Society Winter Meeting
Special Session “Mathematical Modeling and Analysis in Spatial Ecology and Epidemiology” Toronto, ON, December 2022
Talk title: Phase-plane analysis of steady states of a spruce budworm model with advection
Winter Workshop on Competition Dynamics in Biology
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, December 2021 (online)
Talk title: Logistic reaction-diffusion-advection river network model: phase plane approach
2021 Canadian Mathematical Society 75th Anniversary Summer Meeting
Special Session “Mathematical models for ecological dynamics”, June 2021, Ottawa, ON (online)
Talk title: Steady states of nonlinear reaction-diffusion-advection models: phase plane approach
Current research projects and grants
Individual Discovery Grant "Nonlinear population dynamics in rivers and river networks" from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for the period 2017-2024, $14,000 per year.
Honours, graduate and post-graduate supervision
In the last 5 years:
Honours Theses (MATH 495A/B)
Ella Taylor, “Disease dynamics modeling via ordinary differential equations”, Fall 2025-present
Krystian Hall, “Two-compartment reaction-diffusion-advection models”, Fall 2025 – present
Parker Wiseman, “Spruce Budworm Population Models and Travelling Wave Solutions”,
Fall 2024 – Winter 2025
Jordon Paddle, “Diffusion-Reaction Equations with a Finite Domain”, Fall 2024 – Winter 2025
Senior Projects (MATH 4950)
Oscar Braun Ridsdale, “Reaction-Diffusion Equation: Numerical and Explicit Solutions (2024)
Taylor Wood, “Epidemiological Models: Modeling Covid-19 via Ordinary Differential Equations” (2022)
Meghraj Mukhopadhyay, “Modelling Colon Cancer” (2022)
Ian Anunda, “Mathematical Modelling of the Spread of Infectious Diseases” (2021)
Jasmine Penney, “Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases via Ordinary Differential Equations” (2021)
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Parker Wiseman, “Travelling wave solutions in reaction-diffusion
models with nonlinear reaction terms”,
NSERC USRA, Summer 2025
Parker Wiseman, “Reaction-diffusion models and traveling wave solutions”,
NSERC USRA, Summer 2024
Dylan Smith, “Nonlinear population dynamics in river networks”,
supported by NSERC DG, Summer 2023
Steven Kendell, “Population dynamics modeling via differential equations”,
NSERC USRA, Summer 2022
Michael Willette, “Reaction-diffusion-advection competition models in river networks”,
NSERC USRA, Summer 2021
Dylan Smith, “Population Dynamics Modeling”,
supported by NSERC DG, May-August 2020, May 2021 - April 2022
Graduate co-supervision
Fall 2024 - present: co-supervisor (with Dr. Nguyen Lam) of Mi Thao Le, MSc in Mathematics
September 2018 - Winter 2021: co-supervisor (with Dr. Lakshman Galagedara) of Sashika Gayantha Perera, MSc in Boreal Ecosystems and Agricultural Sciences, Grenfell Campus,
MUN, thesis title “Forecasting of Potential Evapotranspiration, Total Precipitation and Water Balance for Major Agricultural Areas in Newfoundland”.