Welcome to the Center for Nonlinear Analysis

The Center for Nonlinear Analysis (CNA) is an international resource for research and training in applied mathematics. Established in 1991 with ARO and NSF funding, it continues with major support from the NSF.

The goals of the CNA are:

• To identify cutting-edge mathematical questions in science and engineering, including materials science and biotechnology, to highlight emerging areas in mathematics deriving from applications, and to develop new applications of mathematical sciences;
• To maintain its position as a worldwide asset for the education of young investigators cognizant of research opportunities at the broad interface between mathematics and physical sciences and engineering.

Main areas of research at the CNA are Calculus of Variations, Partial Differential Equations, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computation. A primary focus for CNA involvement in applications is in materials, and increasingly in the life sciences.

The CNA's activities include:

• a RTG (Research Training Grant) graduate student training program;
• PIRE: Science at the triple point between mathematics, mechanics and materials science ;
• two and three-year postdoctoral training programs;
• working groups and topics courses targeted to advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows;
• a visitors program;
• a research publications series;
• organization of conferences and workshops;
• organization of Summer Schools targeted to advanced PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and other young researchers;
• a major internationalization program emphasizing the creation of collaborative research networks;
• the Summer Undergraduate Applied Mathematics Institute, under the direction of Deborah Brandon, which targets minorities and women with the goal of recruiting them to pursue graduate study in applied mathematics.

The Director of the CNA is Irene Fonseca, and the Associate Director is Giovanni Leoni. The other permanent members of the CNA are Gautam Iyer, David Kinderlehrer, Robert Pego, Dejan Slepčev, Shlomo Ta'asan, and Noel Walkington.