Jeffrey Diller is appointed to the position of chair of the Department of Mathematics, effective July 1, 2016. He replaces Misha Gekhtman, who steps down as chair after three years of dedicated leadership to the department. Says Diller of his new role, “I greatly admire the influence of our two previous chairs. Among other things, we hired a number of outstanding young faculty in the past several years.The energy level of the department has risen palpably as a result. In addition to supporting the work of our new colleagues, my greatest hope and intention is to maintain and build on this momentum in hiring during my own tenure.”
Mary Galvin, the William K. Warren Foundation Dean, says of Diller’s appointment, “I believe that Jeff is just the individual to maintain the significant momentum that Misha has achieved these past three years. His experience in myriad key roles over almost two decades at Notre Dame makes him well-suited to step into this position of responsibility.”
Diller earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Dayton in 1988, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1993. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the NSF and held visiting appointments at Cornell University, Indiana University, Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France), and the University of Michigan.
Diller joined the Department of Mathematics in 1998 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and the rank of professor in 2010. As a faculty member he received four teaching awards and for the past three years has directed the Department of Mathematics honors program.
Diller has published 25 papers, nearly all focused on complex analysis and dynamical systems. Using tools from pluripotential theory, complex algebraic geometry and dynamical systems, his goal is to understand the behavior of rational maps of two or more variables under iteration.
Originally published by Tammi Freehling at science.nd.edu on June 27, 2016.
Originally published by Tammi Freehling at science.nd.edu on June 27, 2016.