Faculty

faculty_july-2020.jpg

Core Faculty:
Top Row: Gerda de Vries, Jay Newby
Bottom Row: Hao Wang, Mark Lewis, Thomas Hillen

Core Faculty

Gerda de Vries

Dr. de Vries is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. She is an applied mathematician, specializing in mathematical biology. She is interested in understanding and explaining physiological processes through the development and analysis of mathematical models.

Dr. de Vries is a self-taught quilt artist. Her quilts are often based on abstract geometric designs; they are seldom created for the purpose of conveying a particular mathematical concept, but instead reflect a structured approach to design, and are the brainchild of someone who has little choice but to think mathematically.

Contact information:

519 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Phone: 780-492-4561

Email address: gerda.devries@ualberta.ca
Thomas Hillen

Thomas Hillen is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. His expertise includes mathematical models for cell movement, modelling of cancer growth and treatment, the modelling of forest fires, and movement of ecological species.

Dr Hillen has ongoing collaborations with the Cross Cancer Institute, with various experts around the world, and with two start-up companies "Fitmylife" and "Syndemedic". He has published about 80 journal papers in international journals. In 2015, he won the CAIMS Research Prize. Dr. Hillen has a strong interest in graduate and undergraduate education, he has written several textbooks, developed new courses, and recorded over 60 instructional videos for Bio-Calculus.

Dr. Hillen's Website

Contact information:

611 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email address: thillen@ualberta.ca

Mark Lewis

Mark Lewis is a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Mathematics/Statistics and Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta and is currently the Kennedy Chair in Mathematical Biology at the University of Victoria.

With a research focus in spatial ecology, he has supervised over 50 graduate students and postdocs and has published 6 books and more than 200 papers. Research prizes include the CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize for Exceptional Research in Mathematics and the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Research Prize. He was the Chief Editor of the Journal of Mathematical Biology for many years, and is former President of Society for Mathematical Biology. Lewis has experience in helping lead strategic networks, including the NSERC Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network (CAISN) and the NSERC Turning Risk into Action for the Mountain Pine Beetle Network (TRIA). He is a Fellow of the Fields Institute, the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr. Lewis' research is mathematical biology, with a focus in spatial ecology. Mathematical models include nonlinear partial differential equations, integrodifference equations and related stochastic spatial processes. Biological problems include modeling animal movement behaviours and patterns, predicting population spread in biological invasions, calculating optimal strategies for biocontrol, analyzing outbreaks of wildlife disease and assessing the effect of global change on species survival. A significant part of his research involves the formulation and verification of quantitative models, in collaboration with biologists. Mathematical approaches include analytical methods for dynamical systems, perturbation theory, and computational methods.

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Dr. Lewis' website

Contact information:

Email address: marklewis@uvic.ca

Jay Newby

Jay Newby is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences at the University of Alberta . His expertise includes applied stochastic processes, mathematical modeling, and machine learning tools for bio-image analysis.

Dr. Newby's research is mechanistic stochastic modeling of molecular motion, biomechanics, and chemistry in micron-scale environments such as cells and extracellular polymer matrices. He is involved in several collaborations with researchers in mucosal immunology and cell biology. He also co-founded the startup company AI Tracking Solutions, a cloud-based machine learning app for automated particle tracking analysis of 2D and 3D microscopy videos.

Dr. Newby's Website

Contact information:

529 Central Academic Building
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email Address: jnewby@ualberta.ca

Hao Wang

Hao Wang is a professor in the Department of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Wang has strong interests in interdisciplinary research of mathematical biology. His research group is working on areas as diverse as modeling stoichiometry-based ecological interactions, microbiology, infectious diseases, and risk assessment of oil sands pollution. Mathematical models include ODE, DDE, PDE, SDE, IDE, and difference equations.

He is always keen to hear from well-qualified prospective graduate students, postdocs, and visitors who want to work on the above areas.

Dr. Wang's Website

Contact information:

545B Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email address: hao8@ualberta.ca

Affiliated Faculty

Daniel Charlebois
Daniel Charlebois is an Assistant Professor of Biophysics in the Department of Physics. His research combines mathematical biology, biophysics, and synthetic biology to study stochasticity or “noise” in gene expression, the effects of the chemical and physical extracellular environment on gene regulatory networks, and antimicrobial (drug) resistance.

Dr. Charlebois was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University in New York before coming to the University of Alberta. He has published his research in several leading journals including Physical Review Letters, PNAS, and Nature Communications. Dr. Charlebois’ outreach activities includes a TEDx talk titled Drug Resistance: A New Paradigm and serving as a mentor for UA-WiSE/WISER.

daniel-charlebois-2020.jpg Dr. Charlebois' Website

Contact information:

3-189 CCIS
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2E1

Phone: 780-492-3985

Email address: dcharleb@ualberta.ca
Subhash Lele

Dr. Lele is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Contact information:

423 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email: slele@ualberta.ca

Michael Li

Dr. Li is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Contact information:

643 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email address: myli@ualberta.ca
Zhongwei Shen

Dr. Shen is a Max Wyman Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Contact Information:

569 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email: zhongwei@ualberta.ca

Joseph So

Professor Emeritus

Contact information:

Email address: joseph.so@ualberta.ca

Yingfei Yi

Dr. Yi is a the Killam Memorial Chair in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Dr. Yi's Webpage

Contact information:
501 Central Academic Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G1

Email: yingfei@ualberta.ca

Associated Faculty

Interactions with associate faculty range from collaboration in multidisciplinary research groups to being regular participants in CMB activities. These faculties do not typically have access to or need for CMB resources; however, they benefit through their scientific and collaborative interactions.

 

Visiting Faculty