Rate My Professor John Bukowski

John Bukowski is Professor of Mathematics and Elma Stine Heckler '50 Professor of Music at Juniata College, where he joined the Department of Mathematics faculty in August 1997 and served as department chair from 2013 to 2019. He earned B.S. degrees in mathematics and physics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1991 and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Brown University in 1997, with a dissertation on the Boussinesq limit of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam equation advised by Walter Craig. His early research addressed nonlinear partial differential equations and dynamical systems. Bukowski's current scholarly pursuits focus on the history of mathematics, particularly analysis and mathematical physics in the 17th and 18th centuries, encompassing the contributions of Christiaan Huygens and Balthasar van der Pol. He taught history of mathematics at Universiteit Leiden in spring 2012 and short courses on differential equations at ISEN in Lille, France, from 2013 to 2019.

Bukowski has authored peer-reviewed articles including “Christiaan Huygens and the Problem of the Hanging Chain” in The College Mathematics Journal (2008) and “Van der Pol's Tablecloth,” co-authored with Sanny de Zoete, in Math Horizons (2018). As a 2018-19 Travel Fellow at the Linda Hall Library, he investigated mathematics texts from the era of calculus development. He received Juniata College's Beachley Award for Distinguished Academic Service in 2013 and Beachley Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2018. In the Mathematical Association of America's Allegheny Mountain Section, Bukowski served as historian for twelve years and held other leadership positions. He has presented public lectures such as “Huygens, Holland and Hanging Chains” in 2006. Musically, Bukowski conducts the Juniata College Concert Choir since 2024, serves as college organist, and accompanies the State College Choral Society on piano.