Russel E. Caflisch

Biography

Caflisch is a former Director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University (NYU), and a Professor in the Mathematics Department. Russel Edward Caflisch was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He received his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 1975. He earned a master's degree and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. His dissertation was titled "The Fluid Dynamic Limit and Shocks for a Model Boltzmann Equation." (1978) He has also held faculty positions at Stanford and NYU. He has served as PhD advisor for 22 students, with 55 descendants. Until August 2017, Caflisch was the director of the Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics (IPAM) and a professor in the Mathematics department, where he also held a joint appointment in the department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Caflisch was a founding member of California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Caflisch's expertise includes topics in the field of applied mathematics, including partial differential equations, fluid dynamics, plasma physics, materials science, Monte Carlo methods, and computational finance.

Caflisch served as Director of the Courant Institute until the end of his second term in May 2025. As of 2026, he serves as a Professor of Mathematics in the Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science.