Alona Ben-Tal is an Israeli and New Zealand applied mathematician who works as an associate professor and deputy head of school in the School of Natural and Computational Sciences at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

. Her research concerns dynamical systems and the

mathematical model A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, ...

ing of human and bird

breathing Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen. All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular ...

and of electrical power systems.

Education and career

Ben-Tal originally studied mechanical engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, earning a bachelor's degree there in 1991 and a master's degree in 1994. After working in industry for three years, she moved with her family to New Zealand and returned to graduate study in mathematics, completing a Ph.D. in 2001 at the University of Auckland with the dissertation ''A Study of Symmetric Forced Oscillators'' supervised by

Vivien Kirk Vivien Kirk is a New Zealand mathematician who studies dynamical systems. She is a professor of mathematics at the University of Auckland, where she also serves as associate dean, and was president of the New Zealand Mathematical Society for 201 ...

, Graeme Wake and Geoff Nicholls. After she completed her doctorate, she held positions at the University of Auckland as a fixed-term lecturer in mathematics, and then as a NZ Science & Technology Post-doctoral Fellow in the Bioengineering Institute, before moving to Massey University as a lecturer in 2005.

Contributions

In her work on human breathing, Ben-Tal has studied

respiratory sinus arrhythmia Vagal tone is activity of the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve and a fundamental component of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This branch of the nervous system is not under conscious control and is largely responsible ...

, the phenomenon that the heart rate speeds up while inhaling and slows down while exhaling. Initially hypothesising that this variability would improve the rate of gas exchange in the lungs, her research found that instead it saves effort by the heart while maintaining even levels of blood oxygenation. In birds, Ben-Tal has studied the one-way nature of certain air passages in bird lungs, and the ability of birds to change the speed of airflow through these passages. Her research found that, in some circumstances, birds spend less time inhaling than they do exhaling.

Recognition

Ben-Tal was named a fellow of the New Zealand Mathematical Society in 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Tal, Alona Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Israeli mathematicians Israeli women mathematicians New Zealand women mathematicians Applied mathematicians Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Academic staff of the University of Auckland Academic staff of Massey University University of Auckland alumni