James A. Sethian

James A. Sethian is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, with additional affiliation at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His work focuses on developing and applying Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods to track evolving interfaces across diverse scientific domains.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley (1982)
  • B.A. in Mathematics, Princeton University (1976)

Research spans Applied Mathematics, Computational Physics, and Numerical Analysis, with applications in Semiconductor Manufacturing, Fluid Dynamics, Medical Imaging, Image Processing, Seismic Analysis, and Optimal Control. His publications demonstrate expertise in modeling interfaces that develop sharp corners, break apart, and merge, particularly through PDE-based numerical techniques. Key contributions include algorithms for noise removal, minimal surface computation, and multi-layer coating flows.

As a mentor, he has advised numerous PhD students in computational methods and applied mathematics, including Robert I. Saye, Jon Arthur Wilkening, and David Layne Chopp. Projects under his leadership integrate ViscoElastic Flow, Tumor Modeling, and Robotics via curvature-driven evolution and interface tracking.