| Mary Fanett Wheeler | |
| Birth Date: | 28 December 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Cuero, Texas, US |
| Nationality: | American |
| Fields: | Numerical Analysis Partial Differential Equations Scientific Computation |
| Workplaces: | Rice University University of Houston University of Texas |
| Alma Mater: | University of Texas(BS, BA, MA) Rice University(PhD) |
| Thesis Title: | A Priori L2 Error Estimates for Galerkin Approximations to Parabolic Partial Differential Equations |
| Thesis Year: | 1971 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Henry H. Rachford, Jr. Jim Douglas, Jr. |
| Doctoral Students: |
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Mary Fanett Wheeler (born December 28, 1938)[1] is an American mathematician. She is known for her work on numerical methods for partial differential equations, including domain decomposition methods.
In 1998, Wheeler was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for "the computer simulation of subsurface flow and the underlying mathematical algorithms".[2]
In 2009 she was awarded the Theodore von Kármán Prize by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).[3]
Mary Fanett Wheeler was born on December 28, 1938, in Cuero, Texas.[1] She earned a double major in social sciences and mathematics from the University of Texas in 1960, and a Master's degree in 1963.[1] She did her masters thesis on the Peaceman-Rachford method, and later went on to do her Ph.D. under Rachford at Rice University in 1971.[4]
Wheeler studies finite element analysis and porous media problems with applications in engineering, oil-field exploitation, and the cleaning up of environmental pollution.[4] Her early work consisted of fundamental contributions to finite element methods and numerical analysis.[4] She then moved into porous media problems, using her numerical expertise to study problems in the oil industry such as managing oil-field extraction.[4] She also studies environmental problems such as cleaning up underground reservoirs, spills of toxic waste, and carbon dioxide sequestration.[4] In addition, Wheeler has worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers on environmental impact in the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Florida Bay.[4]
On the matter of pure versus applied math, Wheeler has been noted to say "To me it is important to see your work used. I do abstract things as well, and I don't know if I will live to see them applied."[4]
Wheeler worked at the Rice University from 1971 to 1995, with a two-year hiatus at University of Houston from 1988 to 1990.[4] In 1995 she moved to the University of Texas at Austin where she serves as the director of the Center for Subsurface Modeling at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences.[5] She is a Professional Engineer registered with the State of Texas, 1999.[6] In 1989, she gave the prestigious Noether Lecture for the Association for Women in Mathematics in Phoenix, Arizona.[7] Her talk was titled "Large Scale Modeling of Problems Arising in Flow in Porous Media".