Rate My Professor Adelle Coster

Professor Adelle Coster is a distinguished applied mathematician and Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics within the Faculty of Science at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She obtained her PhD in 1998 and a BSc with First Class Honours and the University Medal in 1991, both from UNSW. Throughout her career at UNSW, she has held significant leadership positions, including Head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics from 2021 to 2024. She currently serves as Deputy Director of Research for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems (MACSYS). Other roles include Past-President of the Australian Society for Biophysics, former member of the UNSW Academic Board, and ongoing service on numerous school, faculty, and university committees.

Professor Coster's research expertise lies in mathematical modelling, particularly in biomedicine and biology, utilizing dynamical systems analyses, stochastic modelling, and queueing theory. Her investigations cover the dynamics of fundamental protein-protein interactions and cellular processes, cellular glucose transport in response to insulin and the deleterious effects of insulin resistance and diabetes, dynamics of electrically excitable cells such as peripheral nerves and the cardiac pacemaker, geometrical morphological features of microfossils, and starch grains within edible plants for identification of contemporary and ancient grains. She has published 68 journal articles, 8 book chapters, 11 conference papers, and more. Key publications include "Accelerometry: providing an integrated, practical method for long-term, ambulatory monitoring of human movement" (Mathie, Coster et al., Physiological Measurement, 2004), "Classification of basic daily movements using a triaxial accelerometer" (Mathie, Celler, Lovell, Coster, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 2004), "Detection of daily physical activities using a triaxial accelerometer" (Mathie, Coster, Lovell, Celler, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 2003), "Impedance spectroscopy of interfaces, membranes and ultrastructures" (Coster, Chilcott, Coster, Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics, 1996), and "Insulin increases cell surface GLUT4 levels by dose dependently discharging GLUT4 into a cell surface recycling pathway" (Govers, Coster, James, Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2004). In 2025, Professor Coster received the Bob Robertson Medal, the top honour from the Australian Society for Biophysics, recognizing her outstanding contributions to biophysics. Her work is highly influential, with over 5,300 citations on Google Scholar, advancing the fields of mathematical biology, cellular signalling, and physiological dynamics.