Kenneth Showalter of West Virginia University is supported by the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program and the Applied Mathematics program for research on spatiotemporal dynamics in chemical systems. Three main areas of research are being carried out: controlling and characterizing stabilized reaction-diffusion waves in a distributed photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky medium; modeling disease spread using addressable excitable media; and studying spatiotemporal behavior in the Peroxidase-Oxidase reaction. The research involves a combination of experiment and numerical simulation. The work will have an impact on other areas of science, particularly the understanding of excitable media and epidemiology.
This award is co-funded by the Applied Mathematics program of the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division under the umbrella of the NSF-wide Mathematical Sciences Priority Area.
