Mark Spivack

Dr. Mark Spivack is the CATAM Assistant Director at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) within the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Mathematics. He has held roles including Senior Research Associate (2019-2021), Director of Studies in Applied Mathematics at Emmanuel College (2006-2011), and Fellow at Robinson College (1996-2002). His research focuses on wave scattering phenomena, including acoustic and electromagnetic waves in random media and rough surfaces, as well as inverse problems in coastal morphology and waveguide propagation.

His work integrates mathematical modeling with computational techniques, such as physics-informed neural networks and boundary integral methods, to address challenges in rough surface reconstruction and long-term coastal evolution. Key contributions include stochastic prediction frameworks for shoreline dynamics and ensemble modeling of beach profile changes near coastal structures like groynes.

Spivack's publications span over three decades, addressing topics from inverse scattering at grazing angles to Bayesian network-based failure prediction in satellite systems. His research bridges applied mathematics with practical applications in environmental science and engineering.

He currently leads DAMTP's Computational and Applied Mathematics (CATAM) program, supporting undergraduate computational mathematics education. His academic affiliations include membership in the Waves research group and leadership roles in interdisciplinary projects combining fluid dynamics, electromagnetics, and coastal morphodynamics.