Michael John Dorff (often referred to as Coach Dorff) is a mathematician at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

known for his work in

undergraduate research Undergraduate research is often described as the exploration of a specific research topic by an undergraduate student that seeks to make an original contribution to the discipline. It is a fairly recent concept in the academic community, with root ...

, promoting careers in math, popularizing mathematics, and harmonic mappings.

Life and career

Michael Dorff received his BA in Mathematics Education from

in 1986. He received his MS from

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

in 1992 followed by a Ph.D. in Mathematics from

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

in 1997. He taught at

University of Missouri-Rolla Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T or S&T) is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 6,456 students (2023) study engineering, busin ...

as an assistant professor in the Department of Math and Statistics from 1997-2000 when he was hired by

as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. Dorff became a full professor at BYU in 2011. He was the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at BYU from 2015–2019 and 2025-2028. He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), a CUR Fellow (Council on Undergraduate Research), and a Fulbright Scholar. He was awarded with the MAA Gung and Hu Award for Distinguished Service to Mathematics (2024), BYU University Professor (2023), BYU Lawrence K. Egbert Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship (2015), MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics (2010), and BYU Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award (2010). His mathematics research area is geometric function theory, and he has expertise in preparing students for careers in BIG (business, industry, and government) and in undergraduate research.

Awards and honors

* 2025–2027, Member of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board for the National Academies of Science * 2021–2024, Executive Director of Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics (TPSE Math) * 2020, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Fellows Award. * 2019–2020, President of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

. * 2015, The "Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference" from the AMS for CURM. * 2013–2024 Co-founder and co-director of PIC Math (Preparation for Industrial Careers in the Mathematical Sciences) * 2012–2015, The Lawrence K. Egbert Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship at

. * 2012, 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, ...

. * 2010, The Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award at

. * 2010, The Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. * 2007–2017, Founder and director of the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM)

Selected publications

Books: * M. Dorff, A. Henrich, and L. Pudwell. A Mathematician's Practical Guide to Mentoring Undergraduate Research. MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society, 2019. * M. Brilleslyper, M. Dorff, J. McDougall, J. Rolf, L. Schaubroeck, R. Stankewitz, and K. Stephenson. Explorations in Complex Analysis. Math. Assoc. of America. Washington, DC, 2012. Research Papers: * M. Brilleslyper, J. Brooks, M. Dorff, R. Howell and L. Schaubroeck. “Zeros of a one-parameter family of harmonic trinomials,” accepted for publication in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., 2020. * Z. Boyd*, M. Dorff, M. Nowak, M. Romney, and M. Woloszkiewicz. “Univalency of convolutions of harmonic mappings,” Appl. Math. Comput. 234 (2014), 326–332. * M. Dorff, M. Nowak, and M. Wołoszkiewicz. “Convolutions of harmonic convex mappings.” Complex Var. Elliptic Equ. 57 (2012), no. 5, 489–503. * M. Dorff and M. Nowak. “Landau's Theorem for planar harmonic mappings.” Comput. Methods Funct. Theory 4 (2004), no. 1, 151–158. * M. Dorff. “Convolutions of planar harmonic convex mappings.” Complex Var. Theory Appl. 45 (2001), 263–271.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorff, Michael Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians University of New Hampshire alumni University of Kentucky alumni Brigham Young University faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Missouri University of Science and Technology faculty Year of birth missing (living people)