Professor Maxim Finkelstein has dedicated a significant portion of his research career to the mathematical reliability theory and its application to models of repair and maintenance, point processes, structural reliability, and stochastics in demography.
After obtaining his MSc in mathematical physics from Leningrad State University, Russian-born Finkelstein completed his PhD and DSc in operations research at the Elektropribor Institute in St Petersburg.
He was a visiting researcher/consultant at the Institute for Maritime Technology in Cape Town and a visiting research professor at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, and ITMO University in Russia. He is currently a distinguished professor in the department of mathematical statistics at the University of the Free State (UFS).
His work in the field of reliability theory has shed considerable light on areas of general repair, burn-in, heterogeneity and shock models in reliability applied not only to mechanical systems but also to biological systems. This is reflected in his work at the Max Plank Institute for Demographic Research, where he has applied his models to population aging and mortality.
He has authored or co-authored more than 180 peer-reviewed papers, 30 of them in the last three years alone, in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Applied Probability; Probability in Engineering and Informational Sciences; and the Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference. He has also authored or co-authored five books, and has served on the editorial boards for journals such as the South African Statistical Journal (editor); Reliability Engineering and System Safety; and Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry.
Finkelstein has garnered considerable recognition for his work, winning two Sichel medals in 2004 and 2007 from the South African Statistical Association for best publication, as well as Best Researcher of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at UFS in 2006 and 2009.