Math professor helps national defense

A CSU professor has made huge technological advancements that

are used for U.S. missile defense.

Aubrey Poore, a professor from the math department, was recently

recognized for his achievements.

Poore was named recipient of the CSU Research Foundation’s 2004

Technology Transfer Award. This award was formerly titled the

Researcher of the Year Award.

“The faculty in the math department is very pleased with the

recognition Aubrey has received,” said Simon Tavener, the math

department chair. “His success is an inspiration to all of us to

work hard and to accept the challenge to try something new.”

Poore researches and develops fast algorithms and complex

equations. His research has improved the speed and accuracy for

tracking military planes and other radar systems. He goes through

large amounts of data and extracts information.

Poore’s research is used for military defense, so the timeline

for processing information is very short. The technology also

allows researchers to differentiate false targets from real

targets. Poore’s work has lead to four patents and two pending

patents.

Poore has been on leave or working part time with the university

for the last three years. In addition to teaching at CSU, he also

heads a company called Numerica, a small business founded in 1996

to deal with the technology commercialization. The company often

works at highly classified levels. It is an independent

organization that works on government contracts. His son runs

Numerica.

Poore said the company is one of the best in the nation, and

this success is what drives him.

“One tends to do things that they truly enjoy and are devoted

to,” Poore said.

Rick Miranda, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, said

Poore is drawn to his work because of its intellectual challenge

and the exciting opportunity for tremendous applications. Miranda

used to be the mathematics department chair.

“It takes a certain amount of fortitude to work on something

like this and he has done it with success,” Miranda said.

Tavener said he was very impressed with Poore’s work when he

realized that Poore was not only inventing and implementing

algorithms based on his theoretical work, but also developing

software that is installed and widely used.

Poore, who is from Atlanta, has lived in Fort Collins since

1973. He attended Georgia Tech University and the California

Institute of Technology. He plans on returning to CSU full time in

the fall.

Poore said the award is also for the students.

“The students have made all this work, and working with them I

have learned a lot. It has really been the students that have made

all of this happen,” Poore said.

Poore looks forward to returning to the classroom full time

because he enjoys working with the students. Some of the former

students who helped with his research are now working at IBM in

Boulder.

“Aubrey had had an impressive number of students graduate with a

Ph.D. under his direction, and I am sure that his effective

mentoring of students is as much a symptom of his highly

professional attitude towards mathematics and research as a reason

for his success,” Tavener said.