Marion Scheepers is a South African-born mathematician, lecturer and researcher in the Department of Mathematics of

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

in Boise, Idaho since 1988. He is particularly known for his work on

selection principle In mathematics, a selection principle is a rule asserting the possibility of obtaining mathematically significant objects by selecting elements from given sequences of Set (mathematics), sets. The theory of selection principles studies these pri ...

s and on infinite topological and set-theoretical games. He introduced themes that are common to many selection principles and is responsible for the Scheepers diagram.

Life

Scheepers was born in December 1957, in

Thabazimbi Thabazimbi is an iron mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town is at the feet of the Ysterberg and is surrounded by the Witfonteinrand and Boshofberg with the majestic Kransberg in the background. The name Thabazimbi means ' ...

, South Africa. He completed his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis entitled ''The Meager-Nowhere Dense Game'' at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

under the supervision of

Fred Galvin Frederick William Galvin is a mathematician, currently a professor at the University of Kansas. His research interests include set theory and combinatorics. His notable combinatorial work includes the proof of the Dinitz conjecture. In set theory ...

. His research interests cover

set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...

and its relatives,

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

cryptology Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gener ...

, elementary

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

and algorithmic phenomena in biology. He was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Boise State University (BSU) in 1988 and promoted to Associate Professor in 1993. He has been Professor in the Department of Mathematics at BSU since 1996. In 2016 he was part of a group at BSU that started an interdisciplinary course called ''Transdisciplinary Research Methods''. In 2019 Scheepers was one of the coaches for BSU's elective Vertically Integrated Projects including ''Portable Secure Devices'', a team aiming to develop methods to mitigate cyber-threats against active implantable

medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

s. Presently, Scheepers is studying

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

mechanisms in certain

single-cell organism A unicellular organism, also known as a single-celled organism, is an organism that consists of a single cell, unlike a multicellular organism that consists of multiple cells. Organisms fall into two general categories: prokaryotic organisms and e ...

s in collaboration with researchers from the

University of Witten-Herdecke Witten/Herdecke University is a private, state-recognized, nonprofit university in Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was the first German private institution of higher education to receive accreditation as a "Universität", a status ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and the BSU Department of Biological Sciences. For this study, he has received grant funding from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. The National Science Foundation has funded his research and curriculum activities on several occasions, including in 2005 for ''Crypto Systems in Ciliates''

Recognition, awards, membership

*2012 Distinguished Professor in Mathematics, Boise State University. *2014 BSU recognised Scheepers' 26 years of academic service. *2017 The conference ''Frontiers of Selection Principles'' at

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

was dedicated to Scheepers.

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

External links

European Mathematical Information Service

Marion Scheepers publications
at 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, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scheepers, Marion 1957 births Living people South African mathematicians University of Kansas alumni Boise State University faculty