Jinchao Xu Named Verne M. Willaman Professor of Mathematics

Jinchao Xu, the Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Professor of Science and the director of the Center for Computational Mathematics and Applications at Penn State University, has been selected as the Verne M. Willaman Professor of Mathematics. The appointment, effective on January 1, 2015, is awarded by the Office of the President of the University, based on the recommendation of the dean of the Eberly College of Science, in recognition of Xu's national and international reputation for excellence in research and teaching.

Xu is an expert on numerical methods for partial-differential equations that arise from modeling scientific and engineering problems. His work ranges from studying fundamental theoretical questions in numerical analysis to developing and applying numerical algorithms for practical applications. He is known for his many groundbreaking studies in developing, designing, and analyzing fast methods for solving large-scale systems that arise from making partial-differential equations discrete. Several of the theories he has developed have had a major impact on the field of numerical methods for partial differential equations.

Xu is, perhaps, best known for an algorithm that is now one of the two most fundamental multigrid approaches for solving large-scale discrete partial-differential equations -- the Bramble-Pasciak-Xu preconditioner -- and one of the most efficient methods for solving Maxwell's equations that form the foundation of modern electrical and communications technology -- the Hiptmair-Xu preconditioner.

What makes Xu's research stand out is the speed with which his algorithms run for solving scientific and engineering problems. For example, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently applied an algorithm that he developed with his collaborator for solving equations that describe the dynamics of liquids that conduct electricity. This algorithm was shown to be between 25 and 1000 times faster than the best algorithm used in Department of Energy labs at the time (2007). In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy ranked it as one of the 10 breakthroughs in computational science in recent years.

In 2012, Xu was elected as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and in 2011, he was honored as a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). In 2010, he was invited to give a lecture at the International Congress for Mathematicians, an event held every four years and that is the largest international conference for mathematicians. In 2007, he was invited to give a plenary lecture at the International Congress for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, an event that is held every four years and that is the largest international conference for industrial and applied mathematics. He also has received numerous awards for his achievements in computation-mathematics research and teaching, including the Research Award for National Outstanding Youth (Class B) in China in 2006, the Humboldt Award for Senior U.S. Scientists in 2005, the first Feng Kang Prize for Scientific Computing from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995, a Schlumberger Foundation Award in 1993, and the Natural Science Award from the National Academy of Science in China in 1989.

Xu was named a Thomas Reuter's Highly Cited Researcher with more than 160 scientific publications. He serves on editorial boards for many major journals in computational mathematics, and he is also a co-editor of many conference proceedings and research monographs. He is a guest professor at many universities including China's Peking University.

Xu earned a doctoral degree at Cornell University in 1989. He earned a master's degree at Peking University in 1984 and a bachelor's degree at Xiangtan University in 1982, both in China.