Richard Timothy Durrett is an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

known for his research and books on mathematical

probability theory Probability theory or probability calculus is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expre ...

stochastic processes In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables in a probability space, where the index of the family often has the interpretation of time. Stoc ...

and their application to mathematical ecology and

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as Adaptation (biology), adaptation, s ...

Education and career

He received his BS and MS at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in 1972 and 1973 and his Ph.D. at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1976 under advisor Donald Iglehart. From 1976 to 1985 he taught at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. From 1985 until 2010 was on the faculty at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where his students included Claudia Neuhauser. Since 2010, Durrett has been a professor at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. He was elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2007. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. Durrett is the founder of the Cornell Probability Summer Schools.

Selected publications

Books

* Durrett, R. ''Probability. Theory and examples''. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA (1991). 453 pp.
4th edition, 2010
ref> * Durrett, R. ''Probability models for DNA sequence evolution''. Springer-Verlag, New York (2002). 240 pp.

* Durrett, R

CRC Press (1996). 341 pp. * Durrett, R. ''Random Graph Dynamics''. Cambridge University Press (2006). 222 pp.

Papers

* * (This article has over 1100 citations.)

References

External links

Personal Home Page at Duke University

Cornell Probability Summer Schools
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durrett, Richard 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Cornell University faculty American probability theorists Living people Emory University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Duke University faculty American mathematicians