Ron Buckmire

Ron Buckmire (born 1968) is a Grenadian-born mathematician, former chess champion of Barbados and LGBT activist. He is the past chair of the Occidental College Department of Mathematics. Starting in August 2018, he served as the Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Director of the Core Program at Occidental College for four years. In March 2024, he was named Dean of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Early life and education Buckmire was born in 1968 in Grenville, Grenada. In 1969 his family moved to the United States while his father earned a Ph.D. degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and in 1978 they moved to Barbados. Buckmire returned to the United States in 1986 to attend the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), graduating with a B.S. degree in three years and earning his Ph.D. in 1994, both in mathematics.

Career In 1994 he joined Occidental College as a postdoctoral researcher, and in 1996 he gained an appointment there as an assistant professor. After returning to Occidental he was promoted to Full Professor in 2014 and served as interim department chair for three semesters starting in Fall 2015. In summer 2016 he returned to NSF as Lead Program Director, a position he held until 2018. Starting in 2021, he is serving as SIAM's first Vice President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. His term as Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Director of the Core Program at Occidental College ended in August 2022. In August 2024, Buckmire began serving as Dean of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics at Marist College. Marist College was renamed Marist University on January 29, 2025.

Research Buckmire's research is in the area of applied mathematics, particularly investigating numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations. He has published multiple papers that show how to use nonstandard finite difference schemes to produce approximations to solutions of the Liouville–Bratu–Gelfand equation in one-dimension and in cylindrical or spherical

Awards and recognition Buckmire was awarded the NOGLSTP GLBTA Educator of the Year for 2011. Buckmire was also recognized by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2018 Honoree.

Personal life From his youth, Buckmire participated in competitive chess, becoming Barbados Junior Champion four times and National Champion three times, and as of 1997 was ranked as a senior master and one of the top 250 chess players in the United States.