A virtuoso, Professor Abba Gumel is a
much celebrated mathematician and
academician with Nigerian roots. He
currently works at the Arizona State
University and is a C. Castillo-Chavez
Professor of Mathematical Biology. Born
4th June 1966 in Jigawa State, Professor
Gumel earned a B.Sc. degree from
Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria and a
PhD in Computational Mathematics from
Brunel University in London, England.
In 2009, Professor Gumel became a
fellow of the African Academy of
Sciences. His braininess and intelligence
led to his being made a fellow of the
Nigerian Academy of Science in February
2010. He did not stop there. His genius
received the 2009 Dr Lindsay E. Nicolle
Award for Excellence for his paper which
was published in the Canadian Journal of
Infectious Diseases & Medical
Microbiology. Professor Gumel then went
ahead to become a full professor in the
Department of Mathematics at the
University of Manitoba, before going on
to Arizona State University where he
became the C. Castillo-Chavez Professor
of Mathematical Biology in 2014.
The wonderkid, highflying Professor
utilises mathematical theories and
methodologies to achieve intuition on the
qualitative behaviour of non-linear
dynamical systems derived from the
mathematical modelling of phenomena in
the natural and engineering sciences,
with more emphasis on the transmission
and control dynamics of human diseases
of public health interest. Professor
Gumel, in 2014, became one of eight
United States based scientists to sign a
memorandum of understanding with
seven Nigerian universities. The trial
project is aimed at facilitating scientific
and research activities in Nigeria.
A maven in his own right, Professor
Gumel has been selected as an
extraordinary professor at the University
of Pretoria from 2015 to 2017. His
research interests include; mathematical
biology, nonlinear dynamic systems and
computational mathematics to which he
has made noteworthy contributions. For
example in mathematical biology, the
aficionado designs and qualitatively
analyses mathematical models for
emerging and re-emerging infectious
diseases, directed at evaluating and
defining ideal control policies for an
epidemic.
In non-linear dynamical systems,
Professor Gumel is involved in designing
and utilising dynamical systems theories
and tools to examine the asymptotic
dynamical behaviour of some factual
systems which are articulated in the
form of deterministic, non-linear, ordinary
differential equation systems.
For computational mathematics,
Professor Gumel’s earlier work on
computational mathematics was
grounded on the design of efficient L_0-
stable methods, through the use of the
method of lines semi-discretisation
method, for deciphering multi-
dimensional partial differential equations.
His focal contribution in this area
comprises the design of a new family of
L_0-stable methods which permit the
resolution of second-order linear
parabolic and hyperbolic partial
differential equations with or without
time-dependent source terms to be
computed on a parallel architecture, with
each processor unravelling a linear
algebraic system at every time step using
real arithmetic .
His awards include a Young African in
Mathematics medal given to him by the
AMU and the ICMS in November of 2003.
Other research and service awards he
achieved are: The Rh Award for
Outstanding Contributions to
Interdisciplinary Scholarship and
Research, University of Manitoba, March
2004 (said to be the highest research
award given at the University of
Manitoba); Manitoba Science and
Technology Certificate of Achievement in
Science and Technology during 2003,
Winnipeg, April 2004. University of
Manitoba Award for Outstanding
Outreach, December 2008. 2007
University of Manitoba (UM/UMFA) Merit
Award for Excellence in Research, Merit
Award for research excellence in 2010,
given by the University of Manitoba,
Merit Award for research excellence in
2011, given by the University of
Manitoba, the 2009 Dr. Lindsay E. Nicolle
award for an excellent paper published in
the Canadian Journal of Infectious
Diseases and Medical Microbiology,
among others. He was also elected
Fellow at the Nigerian Academy of
Science in February 2010.
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