CURRICULUM VITAE
Evelyn Sander

Business Address:

Department of Mathematical Sciences

George Mason University, MS 3F2

4400 University Drive

Fairfax, VA 22030

Work Phone: (703) 993-1490

Fax: (703) 993-1491

E-mail: sander (followed by @math.gmu.edu)

Home Page: http://math.gmu.edu/~sander/

Education:

Northwestern University, B.A, 1990, Honors, Phi Beta Kappa

University of Minnesota, Ph.D., 1996, R. McGehee, advisor.

Employment History:

1990-92 Teaching assistant, School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota.

1993-95 Employed as a mathematical writer, the Geometry Forum, an NSF funded Web site.

1994-96 Employed for curriculum development and teaching, the Geometry Center, University of Minnesota.

1996-98 Postdoctoral fellowship, Center for Dynamical Systems and Nonlinear Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology.

1998-2000 Visiting assistant professor, George Mason University.

2000-2005 Assistant professor, George Mason University.

2005- Associate professor, George Mason University.

2005- Member of the Center for Neural Dynamics, Krasnow Institute.

Grants and Fellowships:

1991, 1992, 1994 summer fellowship, School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota.

1995-96 Louise T. Dosdall Graduate fellowship, University of Minnesota.

January, 1999 Association for Women in Mathematics travel grant.

August, 2000 National Science Foundation travel grant.

Spring, 2002 College of Arts and Sciences Junior Faculty Awards in the Social Sciences and Sciences for "Noninvertibility in Biological Models."

Summer, 2002 Summer Research Support for Tenure Track Faculty for "Starcy Gels, Sea Shells, and Animal Coats."

January 1, 2004- December 31, 2006 "A dynamical framework for transient neuronal patterns" (Principal Investigator) NIH-NIMH Grant Number R03-MH67659, $140,569.

September 1, 2006-August 31, 2010 "Mechanisms of wave propagation in neuronal tissue" (co-PI) CRCNS grant, NIH-NIMH Grant Number R01-MH79502, $1,269,896.

September 1, 2006-August 31, 2010, Undergraduate research in computational mathematics (co-PI), CSUMS, DMS, NSF, $1,057,257.

August 15, 2009 - July 31, 2012 "A Hybrid of Theoretical and Computational Methods for Bifurcation Analysis" (co-PI) NSF Grant Number DMS-0907818, $105,000.

Research Interests: My research is on numerical and theoretical methods of dynamical systems. I have done work studying global bifurcations for one-, two, and three-dimensional diffeomorphisms, and finite dimensional noninvertible maps and relations. I also study differential equations modeling pattern formation in materials science, chemistry, and biology. This includes the process of spinodal decomposition in metal alloys modeled by the Cahn-Hilliard equation and animal coat pattern formation modeled by reaction-diffusion equations with Turing instabilities. It also includes modeling and analysis in computational neuroscience.

Mathematical articles:

1. Fractals and fractal correlations. Computers in Physics, 8(4):420-425, 1994, with L.M. Sander and R.M. Ziff.
2. A new proof of the stable manifold theorem. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics (ZAMP), 47:497-513, 1996, with R. McGehee.
3. Hyperbolic sets for noninvertible maps and relations. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, 5(2):339-358, 1999.
4. Monte Carlo simulations for spinodal decomposition. Journal of Statistical Physics, 95(5-6):925-948, 1999, with T. Wanner.
5. Homoclinic tangles for noninvertible maps. Nonlinear Analysis, 41(1-2):259-276, 2000.
6. Unexpectedly linear behavior for the Cahn-Hilliard equation. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 60(6):2182-2202, 2000, with T. Wanner.
7. Spinodal decomposition: A survey of recent results. In: B. Fiedler, K. Gröger, and J. Sprekels (editors), Equadiff 99, Proceedings of the International Conference on Differential Equations, 2:1288-1299, World Scientific, 2000, with S. Maier-Paape and T. Wanner.
8. Limits to the Experimental Detection of Nonlinear Synchrony. Physical Review E, 65, 2002, 046225, with P. So, E. Barreto, K. Josic, and S.J. Schiff.
9. Explosions: Global bifurcations at heteroclinic tangencies. Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, 22(4):953-972, 2002, with K. Alligood and J. Yorke.
10. The geometry of chaos synchronization. Chaos, 13(1):151-164, 2003, with E. Barreto, K. Josic, C. Morales, and P. So.
11. Pattern Formation in a Nonlinear Model for Animal Coats. Journal of Differential Equations, 191(1):143-174, 2003, with T. Wanner.
12. The Structure of Synchronization Sets for Noninvertible Systems . Chaos, 14(2):249-262, 2004, with K. Josic. (Supplementary material available from http://math.gmu.edu:/~sander/research/josicsander/.)
13. Dynamics of noninvertibility in delay equations. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems Special Issue, 768-777, 2005, with E. Barreto, S. Schiff, and P. So.
14. Complex transient patterns on the disk. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, Series A, 15(4):1049-1078, 2006, with J. P. Desi and T. Wanner.
15. Three-dimensional crisis: Crossing bifurcations and unstable dimension variability. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 244103 (2006), with K.T. Alligood and J.A. Yorke.
16. Explosions in dimensions one through three. Rendiconti del Seminario Matematico, Torino, 65(1): 1-15, 2007, with K.T. Alligood and J.A. Yorke.
17. A classification of explosions in dimension one. Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, 29: 715-731, 2009, with J.A. Yorke.
18. Period-doubling cascades for large perturbations of Henon families. Journal of Fixed Point Theory and Applications, 6(1): 153-163, 2009, DOI: 10.1007/s11784-009-0116-7, with J.A. Yorke.
19. Noninvertibility, an entry in Scholarpedia, the free peer reviewed encyclopedia, 4(8):2242, 2009, with E. Barreto and P. So.

Other published works:

20. Geometry Forum articles. Report GCG69, Geometry Center, University of Minnesota, 1994.
21. Further Geometry Forum articles. Report GCG83, Geometry Center, University of Minnesota, 1995, with R. Hesse.
22. Hyperbolic Sets for Noninvertible Maps and Relations. PhD Thesis, University of Minnesota, 1996.
23. Review of Women Becoming Mathematicians by Margaret Murray, in American Scientist, January-February, 2001.
24. A description of the DSWeb Tutorials Competition. Dynamical Systems Magazine, July, 2005.
25. Critical Exponents, Cardiac Dynamics, and History in the DSWeb Tutorials Section . Dynamical Systems Magazine, October, 2005.
26. DSWeb Tutorials Competition '07. Dynamical Systems Magazine, July, 2007.

Submitted papers:

27. Period-doubling cascades galore. Submitted for publication, with J.A. Yorke.
28. The cascades route to chaos. Submitted for publication, with J.A. Yorke.

Presentations:

• Dynamics and Mechanics Seminar, University of Minnesota, January, 1993, June, 1993, October, 1993, March, 1995, November, 1995.
• Noninvertible Dynamical Systems Workshop, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March, 1995.
• Geometry Center software seminar, November, 1995.

• Boston University, January, 1996.
• Swarthmore College, March, 1996.
• Northwestern University, April, 1996.
• Midwest Dynamical Systems Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, April, 1996.
• International Workshop for Dynamical Systems and Geometry, Rio de Janeiro, August, 1996.

• Dynamics seminar, Georgia Institute of Technology, February, 1996, January, 1997, May, 1997.
• University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany, July, 1997.
• University of Munich, Munich, Germany, July, 1997.
• University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany, July, 1997.
• AMS Sectional Meeting, Atlanta, GA, October, 1997.
• Low Dimensional Dynamics Session, AMS Sectional Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, October, 1997.

• California Polytechnic State University, February, 1998.
• Montana State University, February, 1998.
• Temple University, February, 1998.
• Global Analysis 30 Years Later, Cincinnati, OH, March, 1998.
• The Third Americas Conference on Differential Equations and Nonlinear Analysis, Atlanta, GA, September, 1998.
• Topology in Dynamics Session, AMS Sectional Meeting, Winston-Salem, NC, October, 1998.
• Colloquium, George Mason University, October, 1998.
• Applied Dynamics Seminar, University of Maryland, November, 1998.
• Naval Academy, December, 1998.

• AWM Workshop, AMS/MAA Joint Meeting, San Antonio, TX, January, 1999.
• Penn State, Mont Alto, February, 1999.
• George Mason University, February, 1999.
• Kansas State University, February, 1999.
• James Madison University, February, 1999.
• University of South Alabama, March, 1999.
• University of Michigan at Flint, March, 1999.
• Continuum Theory and Dynamical Systems Session, AMS Sectional Meeting, Gainesville, FL, March, 1999.
• Maryland-Penn State Workshop on Dynamical Systems, College Park, MD, March, 1999.
• City College of New York, New York, New York, April, 1999.
• Cahn-Hilliard Equation Session, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 1999.
• Nonlinear sciences seminar, George Mason University, September, 1999.
• Contemporary Methods in Dynamics and Differential Equations, AMS Sectional Meeting, Charlotte, NC, October, 1999.
• Materials Science Seminar, NIST, November, 1999.

• Colloquium, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, March 10, 2000.
• Mathematical Challenges for the 21st Century, Los Angeles, CA, August, 2000.

• Differential Equations Seminar, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, February, 2001.
• Maryland-Penn State Workshop on Dynamical Systems, College Park, MD, March, 2001.
• Pattern Formation and Diffusion-Limited Growth, Ann Arbor, MI, August, 2001.

• Dynamics Days, Baltimore, MD, January, 2002.

• Summer Conference on Topology and its Applications, Washington, DC, July, 2003.

• Maryland-Penn State Workshop on Dynamical Systems, College Park, MD, March, 2004.
• Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, March 25-27, 2004.
• Fixed Points, Periodic Orbits and Equilibrium States in Hyperbolic Dynamics Session, 5th International Conference on Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations, Pomona, California, June 16-19, 2004.
• George Washington University Summer Program for Women in Mathematics, Washington DC, June 29, 2004.
• Colloquium, Swarthmore College, October, 2004.
• Differential Equations Seminar, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, December, 2004.

• MBI Young Researchers Workshop, Ohio State University, March, 2005.
• Pattern Formation and Wave Dynamics in the Brain, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 2005.
• Computational Neuroscience, Madison, WI, July, 2005.
• Society for Neuroscience, November, 2005.

• Applied and Computational Math Seminar, Georgia Tech, January, 2006.
• Department Seminar, Montclair State, February, 2006.
• Mathematical Biology Seminar, NJIT, February, 2006.
• CM/AMO Seminar, The University of Michigan, March, 2006.
• Applied Dynamics Seminar, University of Maryland, April, 2006.
• Neural Dynamics Group and Graduate student seminars George Mason University, April, 2006.
• Seminar, University of Augsburg, Germany, June 12, 2006.
• Formation and Dynamics of Patterns in Evolution Equations, AIMS' Sixth International Conference on Dynamical Systems, Differential Equations and Applications, Poitiers, France, June 25-28, 2006.
• Topology in Dynamical Systems Session, Summer Conference on Topology and its Applications, Statesboro, GA, July 6-9, 2006.
• Measurable Dynamics, Theory and Applications, Banff International Research Station, August 5-10, 2006.
• Public lecture, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University, October, 2006.
• Graduate student seminar, October, 2006.
• Colloquium, Virginia Tech, November, 2006.

• Colloquium talk and modeling course visiting lecture, George Washington University, February, 2007.
• Special Session on Dynamical Systems, AMS Spring Southeastern Section Meeting, Davidson, NC, March, 2007.
• Seminar, Center for Neural Dynamics, George Mason University, March, 2007.
• Colloquium, Bioinformatics Department, George Mason University, April, 2007.
• Colloquium, George Mason University, April, 2007.
• Women in Scientific Domains, George Mason University, May, 2007.
• From Microscopic to Macroscopic: Mechanisms Underlying Epileptic Seizures, Center for Theoretical Physics, Ann Arbor, MI, May, 2007.
• The Diverse Universe of Model Analysis Special Session, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 2007.
• Workshop on Dynamical Systems and Applications, Banff International Research Station, June 22-24, 2007.
• Seminar, Technische Universität München, Germany, July, 2007.
• Colloquium, Mathematisches Institut, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, July, 2007.
• Seminar, Mathematics, Marymount University, Arlington, VA, October, 2007.
• Colloquium, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA, November, 2007.

• Seminar, George Washington University, Washington, DC, February, 2008.
• Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference, Milwaukee, WI, March, 2008.
• Seminar, UMBC, Baltimore, MD, May, 2008.
• Applied Dynamical Systems Minisymposium, SIAM Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, July, 2008.
• Computational Topology and Dynamics Workshop, Bozeman, MT, August, 2008.
• Midwest Dynamical Systems Conference, Bloomington, IN, September 3-5, 2008.
• Colloquium, Hood College, Frederick, MD, November 19, 2008.

• Dynamical Systems session, Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference, Gainsville, FL, March 7-9, 2009.
• Topological Methods for Applied Dynamics Special Session, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 2009.
• Talk for URCM/REU Summer Students, June 23, 2009.
• Chaos/Xaoc Conference, July 24-26, 2009, National Academy of Sciences Conference Center, Woods Hole, MA.
• Applied Math Seminar, University of Delaware, September 15, 2009.
• Applied Dynamics Seminar, University of Maryland, October 22, 2009.
• Special Session on Dynamical Systems, Fall Southeastern Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, October 30 - November 1, 2009, Boca Raton, FL.

Teaching:

University of Minnesota:

• 1990-92 Recitation instructor, Calculus.
• 1993-95 Senior T.A. for new T.A. orientation.
• 1993-95 Mathematical writer, The Geometry Forum web site, the Geometry Center.
• 1995-96 Curriculum developer and co-teacher for Technology in the geometry classroom and the summer teacher program, The Geometry Center.
• 1996, Citation for excellence in teaching, School of Mathematics.

Georgia Institute of Technology:

• 1996-97, Linear algebra, Laplace transforms (advanced engineering math), and Technology in the geometry classroom (sponsored by the Mathematics Department and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing).
• 1997-98, Differential calculus, Integral calculus, and Dynamics and chaos near homoclinic orbits (a special topics graduate course).

George Mason University:

• 1998-99, Differential and Integral calculus, Concepts of mathematics, and Numerical analysis.
• 1999-2000, Differential equations, Honors integral calculus, Finite mathematics, and Concepts of mathematics.
• 2000-01, Matrix algebra, Numerical analysis, and Differential calculus.
• 2001-02, Business calculus, Partial differential equations (Graduate level), and Reaction-diffusion equations (Reading course).
• 2002-03, Multivariable calculus and Ordinary differential equations (Graduate level).
• 2003-04, Multivariable calculus and Advanced calculus.
• 2004-05, Multivariable calculus and Dynamical systems (Graduate level). Summer reading course on dynamical systems.
• 2005-06, Multivariable calculus and Mathematical Biology (Graduate level special topics course). Reading course on evolutionary equations and summer reading course on bifurcation theory.
• 2006-07, Differential calculus and Ordinary differential equations (graduate level). Three two semester reading courses: Master's thesis credit, neural dynamics, and spiral waves. Dynamical systems (graduate level). Partial differential equations (undergraduate level, summer, co-taught).
• 2007-08, Advanced Methods of Applied Math (graduate course), Graduate seminar (two semesters), two graduate reading courses, Partial differential equations (undergraduate level, summer, co-taught).
• 2008-09, Introduction to Probability and Statistics, Linear Analysis (graduate core course). Numerical Analysis II. Partial differential equations (undergraduate level, summer, co-taught).
• 2009-10, Numerical Analysis (graduate course), Abstract Algebra (future: scheduled for spring) (graduate core course).

Students:

Master's committee, Jennifer Attanasi, 2001.

Advisor, Robert Allen, undergraduate senior thesis, "Turing instabilities and spatial pattern formation in one dimension," August, 2003.

Master's project advisor, Karen Crossin, December, 2003.

Advisor, Tyler White, GMU-funded undergraduate research apprenticeship, $1100 Summer, 2005, renewed $1100 Fall, 2005. He was also a research assistant. Advisor for his honors senior thesis, "A neurological model for shell pattern formation," Spring, 2006.

Advisor, Hanein Edrees and John Price, 2007-08, "Phase separation dynamics in multi-component alloys," as part of the URCM program, joint with Thomas Wanner. They presented a poster of their results at the SIAM Annual Meeting in July, 2008.

Master's committee, Lihong Han, December, 2006.

Advisor, Anne Costolanski, Masters Thesis, "Explosion points in skew maps," July, 2007. She was awarded the department's outstanding graduate student award.

Research project with doctoral student Robert Allen (advisor Flavia Colonna).

Master's committee, Elan Rodan, August, 2008.

Current doctoral students: Robert Reznick (PhD student, SCS), Richard Tatum (PhD student, advanced to candidacy, SCS).

Advisor, "Nucleation and spinodal decomposition in ternary-component alloys" (and paper) undergraduate students Colleen Ackermann (Virginia Tech) and William Hardesty (UMBC), Summer, 2009, REU program, joint with Thomas Wanner.

Advisor, James O'Beirne, 2009-2010, as part of the URCM program, joint with Thomas Wanner.

Sessions/Meetings organized:

• Applied Topological Dynamics Special Session, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 2007 (with Judy Kennedy).
• GMU-William and Mary Joint Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Computational Math, George Mason, Fairfax, VA, April 2008 (with Sarah Day).
• Applied Dynamical Systems Minisymposium, SIAM Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, July, 2008.
• Topological Methods for Applied Dynamics, Special Session, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT, May, 2009 (with Jim Yorke).
• Applications of a geometric approach to chaotic dynamics, Special Session, AMS Central Sectional Meeting, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, April, 2010 (with Judy Kennedy and Jim Yorke).
• Scientific Organizing Committee, SIAG/DS, SIAG/APDE and Spanish Math Societies Joint Conference, Barcelona, Spain, May 31 - June 4, 2010.

Professional activities:

Editorial boards and professional positions

• 2004-present, Section Chief Editor, Tutorials, DSWeb. Organized the DSWeb biennial student contest in 2005 and 2007, including presenting awards at the SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT.
• August, 2006, Academic Career Panelist, Summer Program for Women in Mathematics, George Washington University.
• May, 2007, Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) professional mentor for an early career woman mathematician.
• 2008-10, Secretary/Treasurer of the SIAM Activity Group on Dynamical Systems (SIAG/DS) (Elected 2007)
• 2008-10 Editor-in-Chief, DSWeb Magazine.
• 2008-present, SIAM Dynamical Systems Activity Group Liason to SIAM News.
• 2008, SIAM Activity Group on Life Sciences nominating committee.
• July, 2008, Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) professional mentor for two early career women mathematicians.
• February, 2009 - 2010, AWM Travel Grant Selection Committee (three competitions each year; competitions respectively involved review of 50, 35, and TBD applications.).
• September, 2009, One of three AWM representatives for "Promising Recruitment and Retention Strategies to Improve Diversity in STEM," MAA Congressional briefing, Washington, DC.

Referee and reviewing activities

• Until 2006, Regular reviews for Mathematical Reviews.
• 2004, Joint NIH-NSF Review Panel.
• 2005, Joint NIH-NSF Review Panel and other NIH reviewing.
• 2006, NSF Review Panel.
• 2007, NSF Review Panel.
• 2007, Poster competition judge, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT.
• 2008, NSF Review Panel.
• 2008, Joint NIH-NSF Review Panel.
• 2008, NSF Written proposal reviews.
• 2009, Poster competition judge, Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington, DC.
• 2009, Poster competition judge, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems, Snowbird, UT.
• 2009, NSF Site Visitor, Institute for Applied Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Review of papers for Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Mathematics Magazine, Nonlinear Analysis, Physica D, Physics Letters A, Physical Review Letters, SIADS, Journal of Mathematical Biology, Scholarpedia, Journal of Computational Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics and Optimization , Physical Review E, Nonlinearity, Fractals, Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, Chaos.

Professional training

• August 1-29, 2004, attended the course Methods of Computational Neuroscience, Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA.

Service:

2000-01, GMU math department transfer credit evaluation.

2001-present, Graduate committee.

2003, Exploratory committee for a George Mason University Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences.

2006-present, Preliminary Exam Committee.

2006-present, Policy and Hiring Committee.

2006, 2007, 2008, GMU Summer Research Proposal Review.

2007, Search Committee, Neuroscience/Biophysics Postdoc, Center for Neural Dynamics.

2007-present, Organizer, Applied and Computational Math Seminar, with M. Emelianenko.

2008-present, In charge of scheduling of all math graduate courses.