Steven Strogatz

Steven H. Strogatz
Born	(1959-08-13) August 13, 1959 (age 53)
Nationality	American
Fields	Applied mathematics Complex systems
Institutions	Cornell University
Alma mater	Princeton University Cambridge University Harvard University
Known for	Dynamical systems theory Network theory

Steven Henry Strogatz /ˈstroʊɡæts/ (born August 13, 1959, Torrington, Connecticut) is an American mathematician and the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University. ^[1][2] He is known for his contributions to the study of synchronization in dynamical systems, and for his work in a variety of areas of applied mathematics, including mathematical biology and complex network theory.

In particular, his 1998 Nature paper with Duncan Watts, entitled "Collective dynamics of small-world networks",^[3] is widely regarded as a seminal contribution to the interdisciplinary field of complex networks, whose applications reach from graph theory and statistical physics to sociology, business, epidemiology, and neuroscience. As one measure of its importance, it was the most highly cited article about networks between 1998 and 2008, and the sixth most highly cited paper in all of physics.^[4]

Strogatz's writing includes the 1994 textbook Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, three popular books, and frequent newspaper articles. His book, published in 2009, The Calculus of Friendship, was called "a genuine tearjerker"^[5] and "part biography, part autobiography and part off-the-beaten-path guide to calculus".^[6] His trade book Sync was chosen as a Best Book of 2003 by Discover Magazine.^[7] Strogatz also filmed a series of lectures on chaos theory for the Teaching Company, released in 2008,^[8] and, in late January 2010, Strogatz began writing a weekly column on mathematics in The New York Times.^[9] These columns, along with many others penned by Strogatz, now appear in a book The Joy of X released in October 2012.^[10] The New York Times columns have been described as "must reads for entrepreneurs and executives who grasp that mathematics is now the lingua franca of serious business analysis."^[11]

Career and recognition [edit]

Strogatz attended the Loomis Chaffee School (1972–1976) and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University in 1980. He was a Marshall Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1980–1982, and then received a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1986 for his research on the dynamics of the human sleep-wake cycle. After spending three years as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard and Boston University, Strogatz joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at MIT in 1989. His research on dynamical systems was recognized with a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation in 1990. In 1994 he moved to Cornell where he is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor^[12] of Applied Mathematics, as well as a Professor of Mathematics and of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics^[13] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[14]

Strogatz has been lauded for his ability as a teacher and communicator. In 1991 he was honored with the E.M. Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, MIT's only institute-wide teaching award selected and awarded solely by students. He has also won several teaching awards from Cornell's College of Engineering, including the Tau Beta Pi Excellence in Teaching Award (2006), given to a faculty member selected by engineering students for exemplary teaching. At the national level, Strogatz received the JPBM Communications Award in 2007.^[15] Presented annually, this award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating about mathematics to nonmathematicians. The JPBM represents the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Strogatz was selected to be the 2009 Rouse Ball Lecturer at Cambridge^[16] and a MIT Mathematics 2011 Simons lecturer.^[17]

Selected publications [edit]

Papers [edit]

• Strogatz, S. H. (2001). "Exploring complex networks". Nature 410 (6825): 268–276. doi:10.1038/35065725. PMID 11258382.  edit
• Mirollo, R. E.; Strogatz, S. H. (1990). "Synchronization of Pulse-Coupled Biological Oscillators". SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 50 (6): 1645–1662. doi:10.1137/0150098.  edit
• Strogatz, S. (2000). "From Kuramoto to Crawford: Exploring the onset of synchronization in populations of coupled oscillators". Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 143: 1–20. doi:10.1016/S0167-2789(00)00094-4.  edit

Books [edit]

• Strogatz, Steven H (2012). The Joy of x : A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity. Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547517650. 
• Strogatz, Steven H (2009). The calculus of friendship : what a teacher and a student learned about life while corresponding about math. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13493-2. OCLC 276274618. 
• Strogatz, Steven (2003). Sync : the emerging science of spontaneous order. Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6844-5. OCLC 50511177. 
• Strogatz, Steven (1994). Nonlinear dynamics and chaos : with applications to physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. Perseus Books. ISBN 978-0-201-54344-5. OCLC 42140115. 

Courses [edit]

• Strogatz, Steven H. (2008). Chaos. The Teaching Company. ISBN 978-1-59803-450-9. OCLC 262464884. 

Dissertation [edit]

• Strogatz, Steven H (1986). The mathematical structure of the human sleep-wake cycle. Springer. ISBN 0-387-17176-2. OCLC 14719088. 

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Profile Edge
• Video trailer for The Calculus of Friendship
• Radio show "Numbers" on New York Public Radio's "Radiolab"
• Steven Strogatz' TEDTalk on TED.com
• Conversation with Carlo Ratti in Seed Magazine
• Interview in newsletter of the American Physical Society