Tom Bella is currently a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematical Sciences at The University of Rhode Island.  

His primary research interests are in numerical linear algebra and scientific computing, in particular fast algorithms for structured matrices and the interplay between orthogonal polynomials and structured matrices.  

At URI, he teaches courses at all levels, focusing on linear algebra, engineering mathematics, and numerical courses.  He also teaches a general education course in cryptography and codebreaking that is accessible to students with very limited mathematical background.

As creator of the math placement exam in use at URI since 2015, he was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Student Success Award for “years of work to develop an effective in-house placement test for mathematics. Thanks to these efforts, there was a significant reduction in DFW grades and students were able to make more efficient and effective progress to graduation.”