Michael Eugene Stillman (born March 24, 1957) 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 ...

working in computational algebraic geometry and

commutative algebra Commutative algebra, first known as ideal theory, is the branch of algebra that studies commutative rings, their ideals, and modules over such rings. Both algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory build on commutative algebra. Promi ...

. He is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

of Mathematics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

. He is known for being one of the creators (with Daniel Grayson) of the Macaulay2 computer algebra system.

Education and career

Michael Stillman completed his PhD at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1983 under the direction of David Mumford. He had postdoctoral positions at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

, and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

before moving to a permanent position at

in 1987. Stillman is best known for his work on computer algebra systems. In 1983, he began work with Dave Bayer on the

Macaulay computer algebra system Macaulay2 is a free computer algebra system created by Daniel Grayson (from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign) and Michael Stillman (from Cornell University) for computation in commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. Overvi ...

, which they continued to improve until 1993. To get beyond several limitations in the design of Macaulay, Stillman and Daniel Grayson began work on the Macaulay2 system in 1993. Macaulay2 remains in active development as of 2019, and has been cited in over 2000 articles. Stillman has over 30 mathematical publications, and has advised 11 PhD students.

Awards and honors

* In 2015 Stillman was selected as a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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 ...

for his work in symbolic computation (such as that on Macaulay2). * Stillman was recognized for his teaching by

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in a 2013 feature on the Best Colleges in America, where he was named as one of the top 10 professors at Cornell.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stillman, Michael 20th-century American mathematicians Cornell University faculty Harvard University alumni Living people 21st-century American mathematicians Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Algebraists 1957 births University of Illinois alumni