Alan C. Newell

Alan C. Newell is Regents' Professor of Mathematics at The University of Arizona. Born in Dublin in 1941, he received a B.A. (Mod.) in Mathematics and Physics from Trinity College Dublin in 1962, earning the Gold Medal, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. His academic career began as Assistant Research Geophysicist and then Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Planetary and Space Science at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1966 to 1970. He served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and Professor at Clarkson University from 1970 to 1979. Joining the University of Arizona in 1981 as Professor of Mathematics and Research Professor of Arizona Research Laboratories, he chaired the Program in Applied Mathematics from 1981 to 1985, headed the Mathematics Department from 1985 to 1996, and directed the Arizona Center for Mathematical Sciences from 1986 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he was Professor of Mathematics and Chairman of the Department at the University of Warwick, England, while maintaining his position at Arizona, and was appointed Regents' Professor in 2004. He chaired mathematics departments at Clarkson, Arizona, and Warwick for nearly three decades until 2000.

Newell's research specializations include nonlinear waves and solutions, wave turbulence, optics, plasmas, pattern formation such as phyllotaxis, coherent structures, and cooperative phenomena. He edited Nonlinear Wave Motion (1974), authored Solitons in Mathematics and Physics (1985), and co-authored Nonlinear Optics with J. V. Moloney (1992; second edition 2003). Notable publications encompass 'Propagation of Nonlinear Wave Envelopes' with D. J. Benney (1967), 'Method for Solving the Sine-Gordon Equation' with M. J. Ablowitz, D. J. Kaup, and H. Segur (1973), 'The Inverse Scattering Transform' with Ablowitz, Kaup, and Segur (1974), and 'Wave Turbulence' with B. Rumpf (2011). He received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1976-1977), U.S. Senior Scientist Humboldt Fellowship (1988-1989), SIAM John von Neumann Lecture Prize (2004), Regents' Professor designation (2004), SIAM Fellowship (2009), and SIAG Martin D. Kruskal Lecture Prize (2012). Newell co-founded Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena and remains its longest-serving editor. He has organized numerous conferences, served on NSF advisory committees, and advised Ph.D. students including Alejandro Aceves (1988, University of Arizona).

Professional Email: anewell@math.arizona.edu