Prof. Gregory Kriegsmann
Foundation Chair of Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Microwave Heating of Materials: A Mathematical and Physical Overview
The use of microwaves to heat and dry materials is rapidly gaining acceptance in industry and, to some extent, in the field of biomedical engineering. The working engineering theories are based upon heuristically averaged, linear equations which adequately explain some processes, such as microwave cooking of foodstuffs, but not others. These include such phenomenon as thermal runaway and hot-spot formations which have important ramifications in both biomedical and industrial applications. They are caused by the temperature dependencies of the electrical and thermal properties of the irradiated material which make the basic underlying mathematical description highly nonlinear. We shall describe several microwave heating experiments and present models which have been used by researchers in this field. The strengths and shortcomings of these models will be discussed, and open questions of both mathematical and computational natures will be presented.
Professor Kriegsmann received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from UCLA in 1974 under the direction of Charles Lange and the support of Professors Nathaniel Grossman and Julian Cole. He was awarded a Courant Instructorship at NYU in 1974 where he worked with J.B. Keller, C.S. Morawetz, and E.L. Reiss. He enjoyed an appointment at the University of Nebraska under the department chairman David Skoug. In 1980 he joined the faculty at Northwestern University where he worked W.E. Olmstead and once again with E.L. Reiss. He
accepted a Foundation Chair in Applied Mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1990 and added department chairman responsibilities from 1992-96. There he helped build a graduate program in applied mathematics.
Professor Kriegsmann's primary area of research is wave propagation, in which he has published over 100 scientific papers. In recognition of his work he was first appointed an SERC fellow in 1985 and collaborated with Douglas S. Jones FRS. He was also elected a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, a fellow of the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications (U.K.), and a board member of the Society for Engineering Sciences.