Bob Thurman

Beginning in the fall of 1997, I will be a member of the faculty of the Mathematical Sciences Department at the University of Texas, El Paso. I can be reached by e-mail there at bob@math.utep.edu.


I probably had a tuna sandwich for lunch today.

I was involved in a couple of things at the Geometry Center during my two years. I taught a multi-variable calculus course through UMTYMP (rhymes with "Humpty Dump"), which is the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program. The students taking this course are able to use the technological resources of the Center in an interactive and geometric exploration of calculus. Some of the materials that we developed and used are available on-line.

In the summer of 1996, Patrick Worfolk and I 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. A written report of their accomplishments is available.

Patrick and I also developed the SaVi program for visualizing and analyzing satellite constellations. Check out some of the ways the satellite industry has been using SaVi.

My own research falls under the umbrella of single-variable complex analysis. In my thesis I considered some extremal problems for the logarithmic capacity of compact sets in the plane. Right now I'm working on a physical interpretation (in terms of electrostatics) of these extremal solutions.

For more details, here's a list of my papers

Also, here's my wife, and here's what it's like living in Minnesota. Now but a distant memory...

My official Geometry Center home page.



Robert E. Thurman  <thurman@geom.umn.edu>
The Geometry Center
1300 South Second Street
Minneapolis, MN 55454
(612) 626-8317