TROY, N.Y. — Peter Kramer, assistant professor of mathematical sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Kramer will use the projected five-year, $412,138 grant to work on developing a new quantitative model to represent the interaction of water molecules and protein molecules with the aim of accelerating computational simulations, potentially leading to future medical applications.

Kramer is an applied mathematician who uses differential equations and random variable models to investigate processes in physics and biology. In particular, he seeks to increase the efficiency of numerical simulations for applications in microbiology and atmosphere-ocean science.

“Professor Kramer’s research has the potential to create a mathematical framework for determining the function of a protein from its structure, a challenge that may lead to the creation of more effective medical therapeutics and devices,” said Omkaram “Om” Nalamasu, vice president for research at Rensselaer. “His work is an example of fundamental research at Rensselaer that seeks a better understanding of complex biological processes for numerous medical and scientific applications.”

Kramer contributes to the educational experience at Rensselaer by creating mathematical problems and examples in applications that are relevant to student interests and research, including bioinformatics, molecular modeling, weather prediction, financial forecasting, and turbulence modeling. He teaches graduate and undergraduate mathematics courses, including Introduction to Differential Equations, Application of Stochastic Techniques to Turbulent Diffusion, and Complex Analysis.

Kramer also serves as faculty adviser to undergraduate student teams competing in the international Mathematical Contest in Modeling. A Rensselaer team was recently recognized with the 2005 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Award for this year’s competition, one of the highest honors for undergraduate mathematics students.

The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their careers and is one of the NSF’s most competitive and prestigious awards, placing emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives.

Kramer joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2000. He earned a doctoral degree in applied and computational mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Princeton University.

Contact: Tiffany Lohwater
Phone: (518) 276-6542
E-mail: lohwat@rpi.edu