Joshua Faber Headshot

Joshua Faber

School Head

School of Mathematics and Statistics
College of Science

585-475-5115
Office Hours
Mondays 10:30am-noon in the Bates Study Center (GOS-1200); Thursdays 10am-noon in GOS-2334; By appointment: jafsma@rit.edu; Whenever door is open
Office Location

Joshua Faber

School Head

School of Mathematics and Statistics
College of Science

Education

BS, State University of New York at Stony Brook; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Bio

Dr. Joshua Faber has been a member of the School of Mathematical Sciences since joining RIT in December 2007, and was appointed to be the Head of the School in the summer of 2022.

He has been a member of the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation and a Program Faculty member for the Astrophysical Sciences and Technology Ph.D. programs from their earliest days when he joined the faculty and now serves as a Program Faculty member of the Mathematical Modeling Ph.D. program as well. 

Faber has served as the Director and PI of RIT's NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program in Multimessenger Astrophysics, whose mission includes providing research opportunities to community college students as well as deaf and hard-of-hearing students. He was recognized as a PI Millionaire by the Office of the Vice President for Research in 2021. From 2020-2022, he served as an Operations Officer and an Executive Committee Member of RIT's Faculty Senate.

Working with Prof. David Goldfarb from the University of Rochester, Faber has been a co-organizer since its founding of the Rochester Science Cafe, one of the city's premier venues for free science talks intended for a general public audience.   

He earned his A.A. degree at what was then Simon's Rock College of Bard (now Bard College at Simon's Rock) in Great Barrington, MA, and his B.S. degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  In 2001, he earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, advised by Prof. Frederic Rasio.  He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the latter including three years sponsored by the NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Post-doctoral Fellow (AAPF) program. 

585-475-5115

Areas of Expertise

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
Beachley, Ryne J, et al. "Accurate Closed-form Trajectories of Light Around a Kerr Black Hole Using Asymptotic Approximants." Classical and Quantum Gravity 35. 20 (2018): 205009. Print.
Lombardi, James C, William G McInally, and Joshua A Faber. "An Efficient Radiative Cooling Approximation for Use in Hydrodynamic Simulations." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 447. 1 (2015): 25-35. Print.

Currently Teaching

ASTP-608
3 Credits
This course will provide a basic introduction to modern astrophysics, including the topics of radiation fields and matter, star formation and evolution, and stellar structure. This course will provide the physical background needed to interpret both observations and theoretical models in stellar astrophysics and prepare students for more advanced topics and research in astrophysics.
ASTP-609
3 Credits
This course will provide a basic introduction to modern astrophysics, following on from Fundamental Astrophysics I. Topics will include basic celestial mechanics and galactic dynamics, the Milky Way and other galaxies, the interstellar medium, active galactic nuclei, galaxy formation and evolution, and an introduction to cosmology. This course will provide the physical background needed to interpret both observations and theoretical models in galactic and extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology and prepare students for more advanced topics and research in astrophysics.
ASTP-790
1 - 3 Credits
Masters-level research by the candidate on an appropriate topic as arranged between the candidate and the research advisor.
ASTP-791
0 Credits
Continuation of Thesis
ASTP-890
1 - 6 Credits
Dissertation research by the candidate for an appropriate topic as arranged between the candidate and the research advisor.
ASTP-891
0 Credits
Continuation of Thesis
MATH-190
3 Credits
This course introduces students to ideas and techniques from discrete mathematics that are widely used in Computer Science. Students will learn about the fundamentals of propositional and predicate calculus, set theory, relations, recursive structures and counting. This course will help increase students’ mathematical sophistication and their ability to handle abstract problems.
MATH-199
1 Credits
This course introduces the programs within the School of Mathematical Sciences, and provides an introduction to math and statistics software. The course provides practice in technical writing.
MATH-220
1 Credits
This course introduces students to the concepts, techniques, and central theorems of vector calculus. It includes a study of line integrals, conservative vector fields, the flux of vector fields across curves and surfaces, Green’s Theorem, the Divergence Theorem, and Stokes’ Theorem. Credit may not be earned for this class if it is earned in COS-MATH-221.
MATH-221
4 Credits
This course is principally a study of the calculus of functions of two or more variables, but also includes a study of vectors, vector-valued functions and their derivatives. The course covers limits, partial derivatives, multiple integrals, Stokes' Theorem, Green's Theorem, the Divergence Theorem, and applications in physics. Credit cannot be granted for both this course and MATH-219.
MATH-241
3 Credits
This course is an introduction to the basic concepts of linear algebra, and techniques of matrix manipulation. Topics include linear transformations, Gaussian elimination, matrix arithmetic, determinants, vector spaces, linear independence, basis, null space, row space, and column space of a matrix, eigenvalues, eigenvectors, change of basis, similarity and diagonalization. Various applications are studied throughout the course.
MATH-495
1 - 3 Credits
This course is a faculty-directed project that could be considered original in nature. The level of work is appropriate for students in their final two years of undergraduate study.
MATH-498
1 - 3 Credits
This course is a faculty-guided investigation into appropriate topics that are not part of the curriculum.
MATH-602
3 Credits
This course covers numerical techniques for the solution of nonlinear equations, interpolation, differentiation, integration, and matrix algebra.
MATH-699
0 Credits
This course is a cooperative education experience for graduate math and stats students.
MATH-799
1 - 3 Credits
Independent Study
MATH-831
3 Credits
The study of the dynamics of fluids is a central theme of modern applied mathematics. It is used to model a vast range of physical phenomena and plays a vital role in science and engineering. This course provides an introduction to the basic ideas of fluid dynamics, with an emphasis on rigorous treatment of fundamentals and the mathematical developments and issues. The course focuses on the background and motivation for recent mathematical and numerical work on the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, and presents a mathematically intensive investigation of various models equations of fluid dynamics.
PHYS-498
1 - 3 Credits
This course is a faculty-directed tutorial of appropriate topics that are not part of the formal curriculum. The level of study is appropriate for student in their final two years of study.

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