World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Mathematics

D-Index
69
Citations
70524
World Ranking
283
National Ranking
155

Engineering and Technology

D-Index
71
Citations
71232
World Ranking
940
National Ranking
322

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2013 - Fellow of the American Mathematical Society
  • 2013 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2009 - SIAM Fellow For contributions to the numerical solution of partial differential equations, especially level set methods.
  • 2008 - Member of the National Academy of Engineering For the development of efficient methods of tracking moving interfaces.
  • 2004 - Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics
  • 1986 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

James A. Sethian is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley in the United States. Their research primarily spans the field of engineering with a focus on computational mechanics, electrical and electronic engineering, computational theory and mathematics, molecular biology, and plant science.

The research topics that James A. Sethian has addressed include lattice Boltzmann simulation studies, fluid dynamics and heat transfer, fluid dynamics and thin films, Toxoplasma gondii research studies, genomics and phylogenetic studies, Gaussian processes and Bayesian inference, and advanced multi-objective optimization algorithms.

James A. Sethian has authored several recent papers, including:

  • "Gaussian processes for autonomous data acquisition at large-scale synchrotron and neutron facilities," 2021, published in Nature Reviews Physics
  • "The case for data science in experimental chemistry: examples and recommendations," 2022, published in Nature Reviews Chemistry
  • "Cryo-electron tomography with mixed-scale dense neural networks reveals key steps in deployment of Toxoplasma invasion machinery," 2022, published in PNAS Nexus
  • "Advanced stationary and nonstationary kernel designs for domain-aware Gaussian processes," 2022, published in Communications in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science
  • "A review of level set methods to model interfaces moving under complex physics: Recent challenges and advances," 2020, published in Handbook of Numerical Analysis

Frequent co-authors collaborating with James A. Sethian comprise Marcus M. Noack, Daniela Ushizima, Daniël M. Pelt, Robert I. Saye, and Jeffrey J. Donatelli.

They regularly publish in venues such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Nature Reviews Physics, Nature Reviews Chemistry, and PNAS Nexus.

James A. Sethian has been recognized with several awards, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Additional honors include the Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics, fellowships of the American Mathematical Society, SIAM (for contributions to the numerical solution of partial differential equations, especially level set methods), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Best Publications

  • Fronts propagating with curvature-dependent speed: algorithms based on Hamilton-Jacobi formulations

    Stanley Osher;James A. Sethian

  • Level set methods and fast marching methods : evolving interfaces in computational geometry, fluid mechanics, computer vision, and materials science

    James Albert Sethian

  • Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods

    James Sethian

  • Shape modeling with front propagation: a level set approach

    R. Malladi;J.A. Sethian;B.C. Vemuri

  • A fast marching level set method for monotonically advancing fronts

    James A. Sethian

  • Fast Marching Methods

    J. A. Sethian

  • A Fast Level Set Method for Propagating Interfaces

    David Adalsteinsson;James A. Sethian

  • Structural Boundary Design via Level Set and Immersed Interface Methods

    J.A. Sethian;Andreas Wiegmann

  • Computing geodesic paths on manifolds

    R. Kimmel;J. A. Sethian

  • LEVEL SET METHODS FOR FLUID INTERFACES

    James Sethian;Peter Smereka

  • The Fast Construction of Extension Velocities in Level Set Methods

    D Adalsteinsson;J.A Sethian

  • Evolution, implementation, and application of level set and fast marching methods for advancing fronts

    J. A. Sethian

  • 3-D traveltime computation using the fast marching method

    James A. Sethian;A. Mihai Popovici

  • THE DERIVATION AND NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF THE EQUATIONS FOR ZERO MACH NUMBER COMBUSTION

    Andfrew Majda;James Sethian

  • Computing interface motion in compressible gas dynamics

    W. Mulder;S. Osher;James A. Sethian

  • Curvature and the evolution of fronts

    J. A. Sethian

  • Level Set Methods and Fast Marching Methods/ J. A. Sethian

    J. A. Sethian

  • Ordered Upwind Methods for Static Hamilton--Jacobi Equations: Theory and Algorithms

    James A. Sethian;Alexander Vladimirsky

  • Crystal growth and dendritic solidification

    James A. Sethian;John Strain

  • Fast methods for the Eikonal and related Hamilton– Jacobi equations on unstructured meshes

    J. A. Sethian;A. Vladimirsky

  • Algorithms Based on Hamilton-Jacobi Formulations

    Stanley Osher;James A. Sethian

Frequent Co-Authors

Sergey Fomel
Sergey Fomel The University of Texas at Austin
Charles S. Fadley
Charles S. Fadley University of California, Davis
Maciej Haranczyk
Maciej Haranczyk Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies
Ron Kimmel
Ron Kimmel Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Baba C. Vemuri
Baba C. Vemuri University of Florida
Jill P. Mesirov
Jill P. Mesirov University of California, San Diego
Stanley Osher
Stanley Osher University of California, Los Angeles
Hendrik Bluhm
Hendrik Bluhm Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Kevin G. Yager
Kevin G. Yager Brookhaven National Laboratory
Ali Javey
Ali Javey University of California, Berkeley

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