Sheldon Axler, dean of the College of Science & Engineering at SF State, has been named an inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) for his contributions to the field of mathematics.
The AMS designates as Fellows members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication and utilization of mathematics. The inaugural class of 1,119 Fellows -- out of 30,000 AMS members -- represents more than 600 institutions worldwide.
Axler has taught at SF State since 1997 and served as the dean of the College of Science & Engineering since 2002. He previously taught at Michigan State University, Indiana University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). He has authored multiple mathematics textbooks and has developed software for the symbolic manipulation of harmonic functions. Among dozens of awards and honors, he is the recipient of 13 National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. He serves on the Mathematical Association of America's Council on Prizes and Awards and in 2009-2012 served as chair of the AMS' Committee on Professional Ethics.
"Dean Axler is not only an exemplary mathematician but also a dedicated educator," said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Sue V. Rosser. "Through his leadership, SF State has cemented its place as a home for innovative research in which students are actively involved."
The mathematics department at SF State has a distinguished history of student and faculty excellence. Nearly two-thirds of master's students go on to doctoral programs at institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Michigan, M.I.T. and Cornell University -- in part thanks to an NSF grant that provides nine students with a fellowship each year that allows them to focus on their studies while also volunteering in high school classrooms. The faculty includes one recipient of the Deborah & Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, two recipients of the Lester Ford Award and four NSF CAREER Grant recipients. Faculty members work in such fields as combinatorics, DNA topology, math education, dynamics and ergodic theory, and wavelets and frames. Earlier this summer, President Barack Obama named Associate Professor Mariel Vazquez one of the nation's most promising young scientists for her pioneering work in DNA topology.
To learn more about the Department of Mathematics, visit http://math.sfsu.edu. To learn more about the American Mathematical Society's Fellows program, visit http://www.ams.org/profession/ams-fellows.
SF State is the only master's-level public university serving the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin. The University enrolls nearly 30,000 students each year and offers nationally acclaimed programs in a range of fields -- from creative writing, cinema and biology to history, broadcast and electronic communication arts, theatre arts and ethnic studies. The University's more than 212,000 graduates have contributed to the economic, cultural and civic fabric of San Francisco and beyond.