Tyler Wilridge

Geometry 5th

October 1, 2011

NATHANIEL WHITAKER: MODERN MATHEMATICIAN

Nathaniel Whitaker is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Geometry Analysis Numerics and Graphics. He is a much-esteemed mathematician whose publications are read around the country. Whitakers works have been significant in the management of cancer, possible solutions to the Euler equations, among others. Nathaniel Whitaker received his B.A from the Hampton Institute in 1974. In 1981, he received his M.S. from University of Cincinnati. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley in 1987. We are both ambitious African American men who have goals in life. We both recognize cancer as a disease that can be contained and possibly cured with the right research done. Whitaker, separately from his professor duties, shows research interests in Mathematical Biology, or the application of math in to biology, medicine, and biotechnology. Whitaker is credited for the model of a tumor. The model simulates the recruitment and progression of vascular networks for oxygen, nutrients, and become malignant. models on nephrons, the kidney. He also Mathematical Fluid study of aerodynamics, the tumor. This includes allowing it to flourish He also works on the fundamental unit of shows interest in Dynamics, which is the and hydrodynamics (the

study of liquids in motion). Whitaker is also one of many mathematicians who try to solve solutions to the Euler Equations (see picture), a set of equations developed by Leonhard Euler that govern the flow of fluids.

is the fluid mass density u is the fluid velocity vector, with components u, v, and w, E = e + ( u2 + v2 + w2 ) is the total energy per unit volume, with e being the internal energy per unit mass for the fluid, p is the pressure

Tyler Wilridge

Geometry 5th

October 1, 2011

denotes the tensor product He also takes interest in Numerical Analysis, which is the study of algorithms (a

logical systematic procedure for solving a mathematical problem) that use numerical estimates for the problems of mathematical analysis in the context of real numbers, complex numbers Whitakers as contributors may todays society. His model of the tumor. helpful to cancer an end to a disease (ex. X2+1=0), and functions. influences may not be as groundbreaking have in the past, but are still important in most noteworthy accomplishment is his The models intricate design has been research. His model may eventually put that affects 11 million people around the

world every year, and kills over 7 million people every year.