Dr. Robert J. Whittaker
Personal Information
I am a lecturer in applied mathematics, working in
the School of Mathematics at
the University of East Anglia,
Norwich.
From 2007-2010 I worked at
the Oxford Centre for
Industrial and Applied Mathematics (OCIAM), first as a postdoc
(working with Sarah
Waters) and later as a lecturer. During the same period, I was
also a Junior Research Fellow
at St. Catherine's College
in the
University of Oxford.
Previously I spent a year as a research fellow at the Centre for Mathematical
Medicine and Biology at the University of Nottingham, also
working with Sarah
Waters. Before that, I was a PhD student in DAMTP at
the University of Cambridge,
supervised by John
Lister.
You may be interested in my text file of
Linux and
LaTeX tips. I've
also written a
few LaTeX
packages, which contain various useful commands and macros.
Research Interests
I am an applied mathematician with expertise in the application of
continuum-mechanics modelling and asymptotic methods to problems of
industrial, biological and geophysical relevance.
Following on from my postdoctoral work
with Sarah Waters
and Matthias
Heil, I have an ongoing interest in the instability of flow in
collapsible elastic-walled tubes. For further details see
my collapsible tubes page.
As a regular participant
at Maths-in-Industry
and Maths-in-Medicine
study groups, I've been involved in a large number of modelling
problems in both areas. Some of these have been taken further after
the meeting, and I've been involved with problems as diverse
as modelling
fluid flow in a tissue-engineering
bioreactor, quantitative
measures of placenta size and shape,
and modelling
the arenavirus budding mechanism.
For my PhD I looked at various problems of highly viscous thermal
convection, with a view to better understanding some of the processes
which occur inside the earth. My dissertation was entitled Theoretical Solutions for Convective Flows in
Geophysically Motivated Regimes.
Current PhD Students
- Neil Deacon (2010– ) Linear and non-linear waves in
hydroelastic fluid-filled pipes
- Martin
Walters (2011– ) Oscillations in flow through a
collapsible tube
PhD and MMath Projects
If you are interested in doing a PhD or MMath project in any of
these areas then please get in touch. I would be happy
to discuss things further with any interested students. I also have
details of some specific projects for
which I am interested in attracting students.
Recent Publications
- Arenavirus Budding Resulting from Viral-Protein-Associated Cell
Membrane Curvature
- David
Schley, Robert J. Whittaker,
& Benjamin
W. Neuman, 2013.
- Accepted for publication in J. Roy. Soc. Interface
- The Energetics
of Flow through a Rapidly Oscillating Tube with Slowly Varying
Amplitude
- Robert
J.
Whittaker, Matthias
Heil & Sarah L.
Waters, 2011.
- Phil.
Trans. Roy. Soc. A 369 (1947),
2989–3006.
- Predicting the
Onset of High-Frequency Self-Excited Oscillations in Elastic-Walled
Tubes
- Robert
J. Whittaker, Matthias Heil, Oliver E.
Jensen & Sarah
L. Waters, 2010.
- Proceedings of the Royal Society A 466 (2124), 3635–3657.
- A Rational
Derivation of a Tube Law from Shell Theory
- Robert
J. Whittaker, Matthias
Heil, Oliver E.
Jensen & Sarah
L. Waters, 2010.
- Quarterly Journal of Mechanics
and Applied Mathematics 63 (4), 465–496.
- The
Energetics of Flow through a Rapidly Oscillating Tube. Part 1.
General Theory
- Robert
J. Whittaker, Sarah L.
Waters, Oliver E.
Jensen, Jonathan Boyle & Matthias
Heil, 2010
- Journal of Fluid
Mechanics 648, 83–121.
- The
Energetics of Flow through a Rapidly Oscillating Tube. Part 2.
Application to an Elliptical Tube
- Robert
J. Whittaker, Matthias Heil,
Jonathan Boyle, Oliver E.
Jensen & Sarah
L. Waters, 2010
- Journal of Fluid
Mechanics 648, 123–153.
Full list of
publications, presentations, etc. …
Academic Qualifications and Distinctions
- Junior Research Fellowship,
St. Catherine's College, Oxford, October 2007.
- Ph.D.,
University of Cambridge, March 2007.
- M.A.,
University of Cambridge, April 2005.
- Nahum Graduate Scholarship,
Pembroke College, Cambridge, June 2002.
- Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics,
University of Cambridge, June 2002.
- Mayhew Prize
(for showing the greatest distinction in applied mathematics),
University of Cambridge, June 2002.
- B.A.
(hons) Mathematics,
University of Cambridge, June 2001.
- Kilby Prize
(for the best undergraduate performance),
Pembroke College, Cambridge, June 2001.
- Foundation Scholarship,
Pembroke College, Cambridge, June 2000.
Contact Details
- Postal Address
- School of Mathematics
University of East Anglia
Norwich Research Park
Norwich
NR4 7TJ
- Office Telephone
- +44 (0)1603 592587
- Email Address
r.whittaker@(nospam)uea.ac.uk- Personal Website
http://robert.mathmos.net/