Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics

Dear friends,

It is time again to share a few highlights about what has been happening in Northwestern Applied Mathematics (ESAM) over the past half-year.

We are very excited to welcome Luís Amaral as a new faculty member. Luís has joined us from McCormick’s Chemical and Biological Engineering Department. Many of you will be familiar with some of his widely known, novel, and ground-breaking research on complex systems. We will include an article about his work in the next newsletter.

This fall newsletter features research by Daniel Lecoanet and collaborators on the origin of the sun’s magnetic field, which was published in the journal Nature. This work is likely to improve the prediction of solar storms, which not only generate the beautiful Northern Lights but can also wreak havoc on satellites and radio communications.

We are also excited to point to the research project of Madhav Mani, who together with counterparts from the University of Chicago received a major grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study adaptive processes in biological cells that are relevant in aging, cancer, neurodegeneration, and in response to climate change.

In our effort to connect with our alumni, this newsletter features Mark Cembrowski (PhD ‘11), who was just promoted to associate professor with tenure at the University of British Columbia. His career is particularly fascinating because his position is not in mathematics but in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences.

Finally, we congratulate Petia Vlahovska for having been elected treasurer/secretary of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society, and Danny Abrams for receiving McCormick’s Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence Award.

Wishing you a pleasant fall.

Stay Connected. For current information on our department, please connect with ESAM and its friends via LinkedIn.

Hermann RieckeProfessor and Chair
Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
McCormick School of Engineering

Sun’s Magnetic Field Originates Surprisingly Close to the Surface

An international team of researchers including Northwestern Engineering’s Daniel Lecoanet is getting closer to solving a 400-year-old solar mystery that stumped even famed astronomer Galileo Galilei.

Team with Mani Secures $7.4 Million NIH Grant

Professor Madhav Mani and a multidisciplinary team will explore cellular evolution, disease, and aging.

How ESAM Gave Cembrowski a Platform for his Successful Brain Research

Mark Cembrowski (MS '08, PhD '11) is an associate professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, studying how the brain forms, stores, and retrieves memories. Cembrowski recently earned tenure at UBC.

Father-Son Bonding

Professors David Chopp and Henry Chopp are one of two Northwestern Engineering faculty father-son duos.

Abrams Appointed to Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence

The chair was awarded in recognition of Professor Daniel Abrams’s efforts in developing innovative courses.