Professor Bernard J. Matkowsky Retires

On Tuesday, October 30, the Engineering Sciences & Applied Mathematics (ESAM) department held a retirement party for Professor Bernard J. Matkowsky. Bernie (as he is known to all members of ESAM) was one of the founding members of the department and is a world-renown applied mathematician with over 250 published papers and myriad honors, including his latest honor as the 2017 John von Neumann Lecture Prize awarded by the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Bernie is a John Evans Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics and holds courtesy appointments in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering. A bound compilation of his extensive publications (encompassing four volumes) was presented to him by the department. Throughout his long career he has made seminal contributions in asymptotic analysis for both deterministic and stochastic problems and in mathematical combustion.

Bernie is a Fellow of the most important professional societies in applied math, including SIAM, the American Physics Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Mechanics, and he has served on the editorial boards of some of the most important journals in applied math.

Bernie was personally responsible for recruiting many of the current members of the department, was a mentor to many, and served as Department Chair from 1993-1999. He can truly be said to be one of the founders of applied math at Northwestern (then the Northwestern Technological Institute now the McCormick School of Engineering). As Bernie embarks on a new phase of his career, as Professor Emeritus, we still look forward to his counsel in the future, his sharp wit, and his sense of humor. We wish him well in his retirement.