University of Newcastle Mathematicians Top Of The World

Monday 10 April 2006

The University of Newcastle boasts two of the world's best mathematicians according to the latest world rankings.

Professor Iain Raeburn and Dr David Pask, who work in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Newcastle, have been recognised for their outstanding work.

The rankings produced by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) feature the top 1 per cent of research mathematicians, which are ranked by the number of citations to papers published since 1995* .

Professor Raeburn has appeared in previous rankings, and is now in the top 100 most highly-cited mathematicians in the world.

Dr Pask, who has been acknowledged for the first time by the ISI, is joined on the world rankings by two other mathematicians who started their academic careers as postdoctoral researchers with Professor Raeburn. Dr Marcelo Laca and Dr Alex Kumjian still make frequent visits to Newcastle from their universities in North America.

Professor Raeburn is delighted, especially because it reflects well on the quality and depth of the mathematics program at the University of Newcastle.

Professor Raeburn said, "These successes owe a great deal to the cooperative way we approach our work. Our research group is friendly and supportive, and this makes the University of Newcastle a great place to study and do research in mathematics."

Professor Raeburn and Dr Pask are actively involved at all levels of mathematics teaching and research; both regularly teach first and second year classes as well as honours and postgraduate students.

For more information, contact Dr Jacqui Ramagge on (02) 4921 5545.

* The Institute of Scientific Information's Web of Knowledge is a scientific database that tracks essential indicators of quality in science; it was last updated on 1 March 2006. A citation occurs when one researcher refers to the work of another researcher.