Faculty
Professor: Bu, Hirschhorn, Magid, Shuchat, Shultz (Chair), Sontag, Trenk, Wang
Associate Professor: Chang, Kerr
Assistant Professor: Diesl, Volic
Visiting Lecturer: Munson,
Tannenhauser, Winters
Professor Emeritus: Wilcox
Administration
Administrative Assistant: Melanie Chamberlin
| Charles Bu |
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Office: SCI 351
Phone: 781-283-3038
Email: cbu [at] wellesley [dot] edu |
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B.S., M.S., Shanghai Jiao Tong University
M.S., Michigan State University
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Nonlinear partial differential equations, applied mathematics
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Born and raised in China, Professor Bu experienced the Cultural Revolution as a teenager and once worked at a tire factory. He came to America for graduate study in 1985, joined the Wellesley faculty in 1992 and completed his fourth year
as Chair of Mathematics Department in the spring of 2009. Author of 30 research articles (some with Wellesley students), Professor Bu has done work in boundary value problems for important evolution equations such as the nonlinear Schroedinger equation and Ginzburg-Landau equation. These equations have significant applications in physics, biology and economics.
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Algebra Review, Summer Research Fellowships, Student Activities
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| Stanley Chang |
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Office: SCI 353
Phone: 781-283-3155
Email: schang [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., University of California, Berkeley
M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge University, England
S.M., Ph.D., University of Chicago
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Postdoctoral Fellow at Rice University |
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K-theory, curvature and rigidity of noncompact manifolds, homotopy invariants
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Professor Chang's research lies at the intersection of topology, algebra and analysis. Using
analytic techniques, he studies the extent to which curvature and rigidity of
high-dimensional manifolds
are dependent only on topological considerations. The tools required for this type
of research include C*-algebras, algebraic topology, operator theory, coarse geometry
and surgery methods.
To view Professor Chang's personal webpage, click here.
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Honors Coordinator, Math Help Room, Graders and Tutors, Website,
Newsletter
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| Alexander Diesl |
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Office: SCI 371
Phone: 781-283-3143
Email: adiesl [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., The Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
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Visiting Lecturer at Vassar College
Assistant Professor at Bowling Green State University |
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Noncommutative algebra, rings, modules
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Professor Diesl's research focuses on properties of rings which
arise when considering endomorphisms of appropriate modules.
He is also interested in the intersection of ring theory and
graph theory.
To view Professor Diesl's personal webpage, click here.
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Student Seminar, Meet the Department
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| Philip Hirschhorn |
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Office: SCI 356
Phone: 781-283-3116
Email: psh [at] poincare [dot] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.S., Brooklyn College of CUNY
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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Topology, model categories |
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Professor Hirschhorn is an algebraic topologist. He works on homotopy
theory in model categories, localizations of model category
structures, and homotopy limit and colimit functors.
To view Professor Hirschhorn's website, click here. |
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Computing (Palmer), Placement Coordinator
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| Megan Kerr |
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Office: SCI 372
Phone: 781-283-3144
Email: mkerr [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., Wellesley College
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
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Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College |
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Differential geometry, Lie groups |
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Professor Kerr's research is in global Riemannian geometry, studying invariant structures on Lie groups and homogeneous spaces. This area of research involves analysis and group theory and representation theory. Before coming to Wellesley, she spent two years as a J.W. Young Research Instructor at Dartmouth.
To view Professor Kerr's website, click here. |
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Student Seminar, Algebra Review, Math Games
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| Martin Magid |
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Office: SCI 358
Phone: 781-283-3124
Email: mmagid [at] wellesley [dot] edu |
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A.B., Brown University
M.S., Yale University
Ph.D., Brown University
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Lecture at the University of Connecticut
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Differential geometry
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Professor Magid has been working recently on timelike submanifolds in various
ambient spaces, including
the split-quaternions and the conformal compactification of Lorentz space.
He is also interested in discrete
surfaces and has worked with several students on this topic. In addition
he has directed 350s in a variety
of areas, including statistics and differential geometry.
Professor Magid is on leave during the 2009-2010 academic year.
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On leave
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| Brian Munson |
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Office: SCI 366
Phone: 781-283-3164
Email: bmunson [at] wellesley [dot] edu |
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B.S., University of Oregon
A.M., Brown University
Ph.D., Brown University
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Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, College Lecturer at Harvard University.
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Differential topology and homotopy theory, embeddings, linking, calculus of functors, knot theory, mapping class groups, topological graph theory.
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Professor Munson is interested in applying techniques from homotopy theory, often a more algebraic pursuit, to study more geometric problems in algebraic topology. He uses the calculus of functors as an organizational tool to understand the homotopy type of spaces of embeddings, spaces of link maps, mapping class groups and topological graph theory.
To view Professor Munson's
website, click here.
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Putnam Exam
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| Alan Shuchat |
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Office: SCI 368
Phone: 781-283-3111
Email: ashuchat [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.S., University of Michigan
Ph.D., University of Michigan
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Assistant Professor at University of Toledo and Lecturer
at Mount Holyoke College
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Operations research, functional analysis
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Professor Shuchat's interests in teaching and research include both theoretical
and applied mathematics.
His current research interests are in
discrete mathematics, and together with Professor Trenk and Professor Shull (Computer
Science) he has been working on aspects of partially-ordered sets that
involve ideas from graph theory and linear programming.
He especially likes to teach courses that combine
concepts and examples from different fields. He is also interested in using
computers in mathematics, as he and Professor Shultz wrote The Joy of
Mathematica book and software.
Professor Shuchat is on leave during the 2009-2010 academic year.
To view Professor Shuchat's
website, click here.
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On leave
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| Fred Shultz, Chair |
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Office: SCI 374B
Phone: 781-283-3118
Email: fshultz [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.S., California Institute of Technology
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
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K-theory, operator algebras |
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Professor Shultz's field of research is operator algebras (which makes use of the material in 206 (linear algebra), 302 (analysis), and 305 (modern algebra). His current research involves state spaces of operator algebras and the connections of operator algebras and dynamical systems. He is an enthusiastic participant in the calculus reform movement, and is joint author with Professor Shuchat of the book/software Joy of Mathematica.
To view Professor Shultz's website, click here.
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Library
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| Alexia Sontag |
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Office: SCI 370
Phone: 781-283-3131
Email: asontag [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., Pacific Lutheran University
M.A., Ph.D., University of Minnesota
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Taught at Carleton College, University of Minnesota, Morris, and Mount Holyoke College
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Analysis
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Professor Sontag's research interests are in complex analysis, especially quasiconformal mappings (mappings of bounded distortion) and geometric aspects of complex function theory, but she is also interested in real analysis, especially those topics that are accessible to undergraduates.
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Algebra Review, Booklet Discussion, Meet the Department, Virtual
Career Panel
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| Jonathan Tannenhauser |
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Office: SCI 365
Phone: 781-283-3172
Email: jtannenh [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., Harvard University
M.A., University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
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String theory, neuroscience
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Professor Tannenhauser's background is in theoretical particle
physics, where his work has focused on the the AdS/CFT correspondence, a
conjectured equivalence between certain quantum field theories and
certain string theories. More recently he has become interested in
applying computational and statistical tools to the genomics of
birdsong. The goal is to pinpoint which genes are expressed in a
singing bird's brain and how the expression pattern changes over the
course of brain development.
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Math Games
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| Ann Trenk |
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Office: SCI 360
Phone: 781-283-3140
Email: atrenk [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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A.B., Harvard University
Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University
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Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College |
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Graph theory, partially ordered sets
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Professor Trenk's research focuses primarily on structured families of graphs and partially ordered sets. Her book, Tolerance Graphs, coauthored with Martin Golumbic, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2004.
Professor Trenk is serving a four-year term on the executive committee of the Association of Women in Mathematics, a national organization encouraging girls and women to study and have active careers in the mathematical sciences. She has recently completed a term as Chair of the Mathematics Department.
To view Professor Trenk's website, click here. |
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Colloquium, Department Minutes, Meet the Department
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| Ismar Volic |
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Office: SCI 352
Phone: 781-283-3103
Email: ivolic [at] wellesley [dot] edu |
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B.A., Boston University
Ph.D., Brown University
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Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia |
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Calculus of functors, spaces of embeddings, configuration spaces, finite type knot invariants |
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Professor Volic's research is in topology, and in particular in Goodwillie-Weiss calculus
of functors, using both embedding and orthogonal calculus to study the
rational homotopy type of spaces of knots in any dimension, and more
generally spaces of embeddings of any manifold in a Euclidean space. He
has also recently been trying to generalize finite type and Milnor knot
invariants to other embedding spaces.
Professor Volic is on leave during the 2009-2010 academic year.
To view Professor Volic's website, click here. |
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On leave
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| Helen Wang |
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Office: SCI 350
Phone: 781-283-3113
Email: hwang [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., University of Wisconsin
M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University
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Analysis |
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Goldwater Scholarship, Placement Coordinator
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| Robert Winters |
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Office: SCI 373
Phone: 781-283-3495
Email: rwinters [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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B.A., Queens College, City University of New York
Ph.D., Boston University
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Dynamical systems
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Professor Winter's primary mathematical interests these days are
election systems and social choice. He has consulted with election
reform advocates in numerous locations throughout the United States
and elsewhere.
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Meet the Department
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| Melanie Chamberlin |
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Office: SCI 361
Phone: 781-283-3148
Email: mchamber [at] wellesley [dot] edu
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Melanie Chamberlin intends on improving her golf swing (an ongoing process), now that both her children on married. Athough she has yet to sample the waves on Narragansett, she has made huge strides in crafting modest bracelets and earrings which has taken time away from the surfboard. She is always looking for ways to create fun and affordable decorations for events such as the Senior Dinner (her personal favorite event!). Her big project is to produce a multi-class reunion for her high school to take place next June.
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Department of Mathematics | 106 Central St. | Wellesley College | Wellesley, MA 02481
Created: August 2008 |
Last Updated: August 2009
Contact the Department
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