James M. Ortega

James M.(Jim) Ortega retired in 1998 from the University of Virginia, where he had been Charles Henderson professor since 1979. At Virginia, he served as Associate Dean of Engineering, and as Chairman of the Departments of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. Before going to Virginia he was Head of the Mathematics Department at North Carolina State University and director of the research institute ICASE for NASA. He is the author of ten textbooks and research monographs in Applied Mathematics, and one science fiction novel, The Visitors. The Eight-Legged Horse is his first children's book.