Biography

Robert E. Megginson is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan. Before receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he worked in industry for eight years, rising to the position of Lead Computer Systems Software Specialist for Roper Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. He has been on the faculty of U-M since 1992, with a two-year leave in 2002–2004 to serve as Deputy Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. He was Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Graduate Education in U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts from 2004–2010. His research interests are the geometry of Banach spaces and the mathematics of climate science. Megginson has been active at the national level in programs to address the under-representation of minorities in mathematics. Recognitions for his efforts include the PAESMEM award in 1997; the Ely S. Parker Award of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society in 1999; and the Etta Zuber Falconer Excellence in Mathematics Teaching Award of the Quality Education for Minorities Network in 2006. He has been named to the Native American Science and Engineering Wall of Fame maintained at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, and portrayed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History by Bonnie Juettner, Bluewood Books, 2002. In January 2009, Megginson received the Mathematical Association of America’s Yueh-Gin Gung and Dr. Charles Y. Hu Distinguished Service to Mathematics Award, the Association’s highest honor for service. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Mathematical Society.