Timothy J. Healey | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Illinois |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics, Continuum Mechanics |
| Institutions | Cornell University University of Maryland |
| Thesis | Symmetry, Bifurcation, and Computational Methods in Nonlinear Structural Mechanics (1985) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Muncaster |
Timothy Healey is an American applied mathematician working in the areas of nolinear elasticity, nonlinear partial differential equations, bifurcation theory and the calculus of variations. [1] [2] He is currently a professor in the Department of Mathematics, Cornell University. [2]
Healey is known for his mathematical contributions to nonlinear elasticity particularly the use of group-theoretic methods in global bifurcation problems. [1] [3] [4]
Healey received his bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Missouri in 1976 and worked as a structural engineer between 1978 and 1980. [5] He received his PhD in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1985 under the guidance of Robert Muncaster in mathematics with mentoring from Donald Carlson and Arthur Robinson in mechanics. [6] He spent a postdoctoral year with Stuart Antman and P. Michael Fitzpatrick at the University of Maryland before joining the faculty at Cornell University, where he has held full-time positions in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Mechanical and Aerospace engineering and Mathematics. [7]
Healey's research focuses on mathematical aspects of elasticity theory. In his early career, he made fundamental contributions to the study of global bifurcation in problems with symmetry using group-theoretic methods. Along with H. Simpson, he developed a topological degree similar to the Leray-Schauder degree which leads to the existence of solutions in nonlinear elasticity. Healey's work on transverse hemitropy and isotropy in Cosserat rod theory is well known and is a natural setting for studying the mechanics of ropes, cables and biological filaments such as DNA. He has also established existence theorems for thin, nonlinearly elastic shells undergoing large membrane strains. [1] [4] [8] [9]