Info about Robert E. Thurman

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[Robert E. Thurman]
Robert E. Thurman

Title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Dates: September 1, 1995 -- July 30, 1997
Currently at: University of Texas, El Paso
E-mail: thurman@geom.umn.edu
Personal Homepage: http://www.math.utep.edu/Faculty/thurman.html

Activities at the Geometry Center

Bob's primary activity at the Geometry Center was the development and implementation of course materials for the calculus classroom. He taught a multi-variable calculus course at the Geometry Center through the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP). The students use the technological resources of the Center in an interactive and geometric exploration of calculus. Bob also developed hypertext laboratory materials for use in the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology first-year calculus course.

In the summer of 1996, Bob and Patrick Worfolk sponsored two undergraduates, Molly Megraw and Chris Sinclair, in a research project in dynamical systems aimed at understanding and visualizing periodic orbits and their stable and unstable manifolds in the restricted three-body problem.

Bob and Patrick also developed the SaVi program for visualizing and analyzing satellite constellations.

Bob's mathematical research falls under the umbrella of single-variable complex analysis. In his thesis he considers some extremal problems for the logarithmic capacity of compact sets in the plane. Now he's working on a physical interpretation (in terms of electrostatics) of these extremal solutions.

Background

Bob received a B.A. in Mathematics and B.S. in Computer Science in 1986 from the University of Missouri. He went on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he got an MS in Mathematics in 1988. He then spent two years working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In 1990 he resumed graduate studies in mathematics at the University of Michigan. He graduated from there with a Ph.D. in May, 1995, and joined the Geometry Center staff the following September.

Education

PhD in Mathematics, 1995
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dissertation: Extremal Problems for Logarithmic Capacity and Extremal Length
Dissertation Advisor: Prof. Peter L. Duren

MS in Mathematics, 1988
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois

BA in Mathematics, BS in Computer Science, 1986 (summa cum laude)
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri

Professional Experience

Employment

September 1995 -- August 1997: Postdoctoral Fellow
Geometry Center
University of Minnesota
1990--1994: Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant
Department of Mathematics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1992--1994: Undergraduate Mathematics Counselor
Office of Academic Advising, College of LS & A
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1988--1990: Computer Programmer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA, Pasadena, California
1986--1988: Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Mathematics
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois

Publications

Maximal distortion of capacity under conformal mapping, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., Volume 346, Number 2, December, 1994, pp 605--616.
Bridged extremal distance and maximal capacity, Pacific J. Math., to appear.
Physical interpretation and further properties of Robin capacity, with P. Duren and J. Pfaltzgraff, Algebra i Analiz (=St. Petersburg Math. J.), to appear.
Maximal capacity, Robin capacity, and minimum energy, submitted to Indiana Math. J.

Talks

Maximal distortion of capacity under conformal mapping, Special session on Quasi-conformal mappings, Joint Meetings of the AMS and MAA, Cincinnati, Ohio, January, 1994.
Bridged extremal distance and maximal capacity, Geometric Function Theory seminar, University of Cincinnati Department of Mathematics, October, 1994.
Bridged extremal distance and maximal capacity, Special session on Geometric function theory, Joint Meetings of the AMS and MAA, San Francisco, California, January, 1995.
A minimum energy view of Robin capacity, Wahington University (St. Louis) Department of Mathematics colloquium, February, 1996.
Maximal capacity, Robin capacity, and minimum energy, Summer school in Conformal Geometry, Segovia, Spain, June, 1996.

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Created: Nov 19 1995 --- Last modified: Oct 31 1997