Abba B. Gumel, a Nigerian-born scholar, has been named in the 2023 class of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society (AMS).
AMS accepted Gumel as a fellow “for contributions to the mathematical theory of epidemics, applied dynamical systems, and promoting the use of mathematics to help solve global public health challenges”.
Gumel is the professor of mathematics — and The Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed E-Nnovate Chair in Mathematics — at the Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, United States of America.
He has also served as Foundation Professor of Mathematics, at the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University and professor of mathematics at the University of Manitoba, Canada, between 1999 and 2014.
Gumel got his bachelors degree in Mathematics from Bayero University, Nigeria, in 1989 and a PhD in Mathematics from Brunel University London, United Kingdom, in 1994.
He works as a mathematical biologist who analyses and designs novel mathematical models for gaining insight and understanding in transmission dynamics and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Gumel’s research is said to be of great public health significance with regards to countering epidemics and pandemics.
Gumel has co-authored over 160 peer-reviewed research papers and three edited books. He has also been presented with over a dozen honours and awards for his research.
In 2021, Gumel received the Bellman Prize, a biennial award presented to a paper published in Mathematical Bioscience, a journal that has made outstanding contribution to the research field over the last five years.
Gumel was also elected fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2009 and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences in 2010.
He is a lifetime member, Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society (CAIMS).
Gumel is also a member of Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the Nigerian Mathematical Society (NMS), and the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB).