Career
This has included free-boundary problems in fluids and materials science, singularity formation in partial differential equations, modeling visual perception in the primary visual cortex, dynamics of complex and active fluids, cellular biophysics, and fluid-structure interaction problems such as the flapping of flags, stream-lining in nature, and flapping flight. Shelley was born in Louisiana Junta, Colorado (United States of America). He holds a Bachelor in Mathematics from the University of Colorado (1981) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona (1985).
He was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, and then joined the faculty of mathematics at the University of Chicago.
In 1992 he joined the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University where he is the George and Lilian Lyttle Professor of Applied Mathematics. He is also a Professor of Neuroscience (New York University) and Professor of Mechanical Engineering (New York University-Poly).
1989 National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship.