Robert V. Kohn, Ph.D.

Robert V. Kohn is the Silver Professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. His research focuses mainly on the analysis of mathematical models in materials science. He studies coarsening due to energy-driven motion, micromagnetics, pattern formation due to energy minimization, shape-memory materials, and surface energy as a selection mechanism. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1974, a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Warwick in 1975, and a doctoral degree in mathematics from Princeton University in 1979. He was a postdoctoral fellow at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences from 1979 to 1981. He was promoted to professor of mathematics in 1988. Kohn’s work was recognized with the Ralph E. Kleinman Award from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in 1999, the Keith Medal (Royal Society of Edinburgh) in 2007, and the Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research (AMS) in 2014. He is also a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and SIAM.

Projects

Simons Collaboration: Harnessing Universal Symmetry Concepts for Extreme Wave Phenomena