Bressan Named Distinguished Professor of Mathematics

30 August 2006 —Alberto Bressan, professor of mathematics, has been named Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Penn State. This title is presented in recognition of his exceptional record of teaching, research, and service to the University community.

Bressan's research is in the broad area of nonlinear analysis, which includes such topics as nonlinear partial differential equations and the mathematical theory of control. He is best known for his contributions to the theory of hyperbolic systems and shock waves.

His earlier work was concerned with the blow-up behavior of solutions to reaction-diffusion equations, which model explosion phenomena in solids or gases, and with the control of nonlinear systems, particularly the geometric structure of optimal feedback controls. His present research interests include problems of impulsive control of mechanical systems and the theory of differential games.

Bressan has made breakthroughs in the field of hyperbolic conservation laws, where he established the uniqueness and other fundamental properties of solutions, and the convergence of vanishing viscosity approximations. Systems of conservation laws provide the basic mathematical models in continuum physics. For his work on conservation laws, Bressan was invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing, China, in 2002.

He has published one book, titled Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws: The One-Dimensional Cauchy Problem (Oxford University Press, 2000), and more than 130 scientific papers. He also serves on editorial boards for 14 scientific journals, including the journal Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, the Bulletin of the Italian Mathematical Union, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, The Journal of Differential Equations, Rendiconti del Seminario Matematico of the University of Padova in Italy, Set Valued Analysis, and SIAM Journal of Mathematical Analaysis.

Prior to joining Penn State in November of 2003, Bressan was a professor at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, from 1991 to 2003 and an associate professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1986 to 1990. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Padova in Italy in 1978 and his doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1982. 

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