Brian R. Hunt received a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1983. He went on to study applied mathematics at Stanford University, receiving a Ph.D. in 1989 for research in fluid dynamics and geometric optics. He has since returned to the University of Maryland to pursue research in dynamical systems and fractal geometry, where he is currently a Professor of Mathematics with a joint appointment in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology.
During his time as a high school and undergraduate student, Dr. Hunt was a top scorer in many national mathematics competitions, twice representing the U.S. at the International Mathematical Olympiad, and twice scoring in the top 10 in the William Lowell Putnam Competition. Since returning to Maryland, Dr. Hunt has continued his involvement at the high school level by helping to coach the Montgomery County Math Team, which includes 60-75 students who spend several months each spring preparing for the nationwide ARML competition.
Dr. Hunt has published papers on a diverse set of topics in and related to dynamical systems, ranging from fractal geometry on the real line to measure theory in infinite-dimensional spaces. His research ranges from rigorous mathematics to numerical work, in many cases combining the two. Recent interests have revolved around the structure of parameter space in dynamical systems--how and why systems change from chaotic (disorderly, unpredictable) motions to periodic motions, and back again, as system parameters are varied.
In addition, Dr. Hunt has taken an interest in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum at the University of Maryland, having twice taught the sophomore-level Ordinary Differential Equations class. In 1992 he developed some materials integrating the use of computers into the course, and since 1993 has collaborated year-round with some faculty members from the Department of Mathematics on a computer supplement for the course. The resulting texts, Differential Equations With Maple and Differential Equations With Mathematica have been adopted for all sections of Maryland's ODE course and are being published by J. Wiley and Sons as supplements to the textbook of Boyce & DiPrima. In 1995 Dr. Hunt will co-teach a Partial Differential Equations class with Dr. Grebogi of the Chaos Group and will work to advance the use of computers in that course as well.
In addition to his research, Dr. Hunt currently oversees the Keck Chaos Visualization Laboratory, made possible by a grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, and dedicated to the numerical exploration of dynamical phenomena through parallel and distributed computing combined with graphical analysis of the resulting data.
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