Ernest Burniston
Ernest E. Burniston was born on October 26, 1937 in Sheffield (United Kingdom). He earned a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of London in 1960 and a Ph.D. from the same university in 1962. He was a lecturer at Sir John Cass College at the University of London from 1962 to 1965.In 1964 Burniston applied for a position at North Carolina State University. In the spring of 1965 John Cell, the head of the mathematics department at NCSU, was on vacation in London and interviewed Burniston at an ideal location for an Englishman - in a tea shop. Evidently the interview went well since Burniston was offered and accepted a position in the math department as a Visiting Assistant Professor, arriving in Raleigh in the fall of 1965. The "Visiting" condition was removed the next year. Burniston felt at home from the start, his ready smile and hearty laugh made him popular with his colleagues. However it was because of his scholarship, research and dedication to the department that he rose rapidly through the ranks: he was promoted to an Associate Professorship in 1968 and a full Professorship in 1972. He was always grateful to John Cell for giving him the opportunity to come to NC State and for Cell's continued support and leadership.
While in England Burniston's research was in elasticity and mechanics. John Cell encouraged him to continue his research and arranged for him to work on a research project on fracture mechanics together with Adjunct Professor Sneddon and Walter Harrington. He was continuously funded in his research in fracture mechanics from 1965-1973. During this period he wrote several technical reports and research papers. In 1972 his research interest turned to transport Theory and he wrote many papers in this area, mostly with C. E. Siewert. He supervised eight master's students (three with theses) and three Ph.D. students, mostly in Fracture Mechanics.
Burniston's stay at NCSU was interrupted twice for service abroad. For the academic year 1973-74 he was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Glasgow (Scotland), and in the summer for 1975 a Visiting Professor at the Atomic Energy Institute in Sao Paulo Brazil.
Burniston took over as Head of the Mathematics department in 1980. Walter Harrington held the department together as interim head after Ortega's stint as head. Burniston took charge and gave leadership and stability to the department. During his tenure as head, he built up the faculty, especially the numerical analysis group, revitalized the undergraduate program and graduate programs and recruited vigorously for both programs. He also started the Center for Research in Scientific Computation with the help of Bob Plemmons and Carl Meyer. This is a multidisciplinary center to provide a focal point for research in computational science, engineering and applied mathematics. It is now a large vigorous program run by Tom Banks.
In 1989 Burniston stepped down as department head to resume full-time duties in research and teaching. However, in 1999, after R. H. Martin, Jr. stepped down as department head, Burniston agreed to a second tenure as department head while a national search for a new department head took place. The search took several years, but finally, in 2002, a new department head was found. Bernard Mair took over as head in 2002 and Burniston was finally able to retire.
Burniston served the mathematical community at large in many capacities. He served as Referee for the National Science Foundation and for numerous journals including the Mathematics Magazine, SIAM Journal of Applied Mathematics, International Journal of Engineering Science, International Journal of Fracture Mechanics, Transport Theory and Statistical Physics and Zentralblatt.
Over the years Burniston served the Department, University and UNC University System in a variety of ways including:
President of North Carolina State University Chapter of Sigma Xi,1989 - 1980. Chairman of the North Carolina State Faculty Senate, 1989.
Member of the UNC Faculty Assembly
Initiated and served as Chair of the UNC Mathematics Departments Chairpersons Committee in 1988 Initiated and served as Director of the Turbo Calculus Program at North Carolina State University. This is a program modeled upon the Professional Development Program at UC Berkeley. The program is designed to help high-risk students succeed in calculus.
Burniston married his wife Bella on July 11, 1959 while he was still an undergraduate. Bella also was a mathematics major and had a distinguished career at Enloe High School in Raleigh. Burniston became a U.S. citizen in 1971. Although he gave up his British citizenship, Ernie did not give up his love of low-slung English sport cars, underneath which he could often be found doing his own maintenance. If not on land, he could be found at sea, sailing in the ocean off the North Carolina coast. A man of many talents, he was interested in classical music and was an accomplished clarinetist who enhanced the Raleigh music scene with many public appearances.
-- N. J. Rose (November, 2002)
