George, Alan

J. Alan George, (born November 9, 1943) is a computer scientist and university administrator. In the academic world, George is best known for his intensive research and wide-ranging contributions to the field of numerical linear algebra, specifically computation with sparse matrices. He is the author or coauthor of more than 100 research articles and two books, and co-editor of two other books. With his students, he has developed a widely used mathematical software package (SPARSPAK) for solving sparse systems of equations and sparse least squares problems. He is also well known at the University of Waterloo for having served in a number of senior administrative positions, notably vice-president, provost, and dean of mathematics.