"What we do is develop, implement, analyze, test, and apply new algorithms that can be used to better solve problems, thus enabling advances in science and engineering."

—Max Gunzburger

Max Gunzburger

Francis Eppes Professor
Director, School of Computational Science

The opportunity to help Florida State become a leader in computational science lured Professor Gunzburger to FSU as an Eppes Professor in 2002, at which time he joined the School of Computational Science (SCS). Until that time, Gunzburger was a Distinguished Professor at Iowa State University where formerly he also served as the chair of the math department. He is also affiliated with FSU's Department of Mathematics.

"Max is a world-class mathematician, an international figure in research and [he's] really good in developing students," said DeWitt Sumners, the former math department chair at FSU.

Inventing new computational methods that are useful across a wide variety of science and engineering disciplines is what excites Gunzburger. His specialty is developing, analyzing, implementing, and applying algorithms that he and other scientists can use to solve science and engineering problems; his own applications interests include fluid mechanics, acoustics, superconductivity, material science, geophysics, and computational geometry.

"An algorithm is a recipe, a set of instructions, that are given to a computer," said Gunzburger. "What we do is develop, implement, analyze, test, and apply new algorithms that can be used to better solve problems, thus enabling advances in science and engineering."

Since joining FSU, and especially since becoming Director of the SCS in August 2005, Gunzburger has also focused on developing new, innovative graduate degree programs in computational science and attracting a world-class, interdisciplinary faculty to the SCS.

"The plan is to make the SCS at FSU the best computational science research and education entity in the US," said Gunzburger. "Here, we have the human and funding resources to get this done."

Gunzburger received his Ph.D. in 1969 from New York University and held positions at several laboratories. In addition to Iowa State University, he had taught at Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Tennessee. At all these stops, Gunzburger has had great success advising students.

"When asked what professional accomplishment I am proudest of, I quickly answer that it is role in advising students and my good luck in having had many students who were excellent, not only as mathematicians and scientists, but also as people," said Gunzburger.