return

Celebratio Mathematica

Robert Fones Williams

⇧

Robert Williams

Education

B.A. Uni­versity of Texas 1948
Ph.D. Uni­versity of Vir­gin­ia 1954

Professional Experience

1987– Pro­fess­or, The Uni­versity of Texas, Aus­tin
1967–87 Pro­fess­or, North­west­ern Uni­versity
1963–67 As­so­ci­ate Pro­fess­or, North­west­ern Uni­versity
1961–63 As­sist­ant Pro­fess­or, Uni­versity of Chica­go
1959–61 As­so­ci­ate Mem­ber, In­sti­tute for Ad­vanced Study
1956–59 As­sist­ant Pro­fess­or, Purdue Uni­versity
1954–55 As­sist­ant Pro­fess­or, Flor­ida State Uni­versity

Visiting Positions

1992 Vis­it­or, Math­em­at­ics In­sti­tute, Uni­versity of War­wick
1990–91, 92–93 Vis­it­or, As­pen In­sti­tute for The­or­et­ic­al Phys­ics
1989–90 Vis­it­or, IBM J.T. Wat­son Re­search Cen­ter, White Plains, NY
1986–87 In­vited Vis­it­or, In­sti­tute des Hautes Et­udes Sci­en­ti­fique, Par­is
1985–86 (Winter) Vis­it­ing, Uni­versity of Cali­for­nia, La Jolla
1985 (Winter) Vis­it­ing, In­sti­tuto Matem­at­ica Pura y Ap­plicada, Rio de Janeiro
1983 (Spring) Vis­it­ing Pro­fess­or, Bo­ston Uni­versity
1982 (Fall) Vis­it­ing Pro­fess­or, Uni­versity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley
1974 (Fall) Stan­islav Ulam Vis­it­ing Chair, Uni­versity of Col­or­ado, Boulder
1972–73 As­so­ci­ate Mem­ber, In­sti­tute des Hautes Et­udes Sci­en­ti­fique, Par­is
1971 Vis­it­ing, In­sti­tuto Matem­at­ica Pura y Ap­plicada, Rio de Janeiro
1955–56 Vis­it­ing Lec­turer, Uni­versity of Wis­con­sin, Madis­on

Professional Society Memberships

Amer­ic­an Math­em­at­ic­al So­ci­ety
Math­em­at­ic­al As­so­ci­ation of Amer­ica
Na­tion­al As­so­ci­ation of Math­em­aticians
Amer­ic­an As­so­ci­ation for the Ad­vance­ment of Sci­ence

Awards and Honors

1994–96 Nom­in­at­ing Com­mit­tee of Math Sec­tion, AAAS
1990–92 Nom­in­at­ing Com­mit­tee of the Amer­ic­an Math­em­at­ic­al So­ci­ety
1986–91 Ed­it­or­i­al Board of Er­god­ic The­ory and Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems
1986–89 Mem­ber at Large, Coun­cil of the Amer­ic­an Math­em­at­ic­al So­ci­ety
1977 Stan­islav Ulam Vis­it­ing Chair, Uni­versity of Col­or­ado
1971 In­vited ad­dress, A.M.S. Meet­ing, Las Ve­gas
1970 In­vited ad­dress, In­ter­na­tion­al Con­gress of Math­em­aticians, Nice
1959–61 Na­tion­al Sci­ence Found­a­tion Fel­low­ship

Invited Lectures and Service to Other Universities

  • Or­gan­izer, Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems Spe­cial Ses­sion, A.M.S. Meet­ing in San Ant­o­nio (Janu­ary), 1980
  • Or­gan­izer, Mid­west­ern Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems Meet­ings Evan­ston (1968–1986)
  • Or­gan­izer, Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems Er­god­ic The­ory Spe­cial Ses­sion, A.M.S. Sum­mer Meet­ing Lara­m­ie (Au­gust)
  • Or­gan­izer, Re­la­tion­ship between Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems and Con­tinua The­ory, Ar­cata, 1989
  • Or­gan­iz­ing Com­mit­tee, Dy­nam­ic Days, Aus­tin, Janu­ary 3–6, 1990
  • In­vited ad­dress, Sym­posi­um in Hon­or of René Thom’s 65th Birth­day, Trieste, 1988
  • Fel­low­ship Com­mit­tee of Na­tion­al Academy of Sci­ence for NSF Gradu­ate Fel­low­ships, 1988, 1989, 1990
  • Ad­dress, Dy­nam­ic Days, Hou­s­ton, 1989
  • Col­loqui­um, Rice Uni­versity, 1989
  • In­vited speak­er, “Short Course on Chaot­ic Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems”, Amer­ic­an As­so­ci­ation for the Ad­vance­ment of Sci­ence, An­nu­al Meet­ing, New Or­leans, Feb­ru­ary 15–20, 1990
  • Or­gan­izer, Spe­cial ses­sion of AMS, in­vited lec­ture, Denton, Texas, 1990
  • Or­gan­ized pan­el for Smal­efest, Ju­ly 1990
  • Col­loqui­um, Uni­versity of North Car­o­lina, Feb­ru­ary 1991
  • Ad­dress, In­ter­na­tion­al Meet­ing for Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems, North­west­ern Uni­versity, March, 1991
  • Sem­in­ar at Ses­sion on Chaos, As­pen Cen­ter for Phys­ics, June 1991
  • In­vited speak­er, AMS Spe­cial Ses­sion in Orono (Maine), Au­gust 1991
  • In­vited speak­er, AMS Spe­cial Ses­sion in Santa Bar­bara, Novem­ber 1991
  • Col­loqui­um, Uni­versity of War­wick, Feb­ru­ary 1992
  • To­po­logy Sem­in­ar, Uni­versity of War­wick, March 1992
  • Dy­nam­ics Sem­in­ar, Uni­versity of War­wick, March 1992
  • In­vited ad­dress, Uni­versity of South Wales, March 1992
  • Lec­ture to High School Teach­ers, Re­gion­al Geo­metry In­sti­tute, Park City, Utah, Ju­ly 1992
  • Five Lec­tures, the Bo­ston Uni­versity Re­gion­al Geo­metry In­sti­tute, Ju­ly 6-10, 1992
  • Lec­ture to High School Stu­dents, Bo­ston, Ju­ly 8, 1992
  • In­vited Speak­er, In­ter­na­tion­al work­shop on Sym­bol­ic Dy­nam­ics, Math­em­at­ic­al Sci­ences Re­search
    \in­dent In­sti­tute, Berke­ley, Novem­ber 5, 1992
  • In­vited Speak­er, In­ter­na­tion­al Con­fer­ence on Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems and Chaos, Tokyo 1994
  • EPSCOR Speak­er, “Pos­it­ive Matrices and Pisot–Vi­jayar­ghar­an Num­bers”, Montana State Univ., Boze­man

University and Department Committees

Department Committee Service
1987–90 Sub­com­mit­tee on Chairs
1988–90 Re­view Com­mit­tee
1988–90 ASGSC
1993–94 Gradu­ate Stud­ies Com­mit­tee
1993–94 Un­der­gradu­ate Stud­ies Com­mit­tee
1993–94 Sub­com­mit­tee on Chairs

Significant Activities in Student Affairs

  • Lec­ture, Fresh­man Hon­ors Sem­in­ar, March 19, 1991
  • De­signed a M375 course: un­der­gradu­ate Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems
  • Su­per­vised re­search pro­jects for 2 un­der­gradu­ates: 1991 Spring, W. Wes­ley Wilson, Mi­chael Betz
  • Lec­ture Pi Mu Ep­si­lon, Oc­to­ber 1991
  • Su­per­vised re­search for un­der­gradu­ate 1993 Fall, Bri­an Marbensen
  • Su­per­vised re­search for un­der­gradu­ate 1992, Abe An­der­son, Josic Kres­imir
  • Lec­ture, Math Club, Uni­versity of Texas, Aus­tin, Novem­ber 1993
  • Lec­ture, Dean’s Schol­ars, April 1994
  • Su­per­vised re­search for un­der­gradu­ate, Bri­an Martensen, 1993–94

Courses Taught

M427K Ad­vanced Cal­cu­lus for Ap­plic­a­tions I
M427L Ad­vanced Cal­cu­lus for Ap­plic­a­tions II
M392C Con­fer­ence Course in Geo­metry and To­po­logy
M393C Be­gin­ning Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems
M393C Con­fer­ence Course in Ap­plied Math­em­at­ics
M393C Dy­nam­ic­al Sys­tems
M427KH Hon­ors Ad­vanced Cal­cu­lus for Ap­plic­a­tions
M365C In­tro­duc­tion to Ana­lys­is
M367K In­tro­duc­tion to To­po­logy
M367L In­tro­duc­tion to To­po­logy, second semester

Graduate Student Supervision & Committee Participation

PhD Degrees Supervised
Joel Gib­bons, 1970, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Carl Si­mon, 1970, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Louis Block, 1973, North­west­ern Uni­versity
John Franke, 1973, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Hein­rich Köllmer, 1975, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Lan Wen, 1986, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Steve Kennedy, 1988, North­west­ern Uni­versity
James Ward, 1989, North­west­ern Uni­versity
Mike Sul­li­van, 1992, Uni­versity of Texas
Master’s Degrees Supervised
Emily B. Rags­dale, Flor­ida State Uni­versity, 1955
Bill Kennedy, 1989
Membership on PhD Committees
Paul Sund­heim
Mike Sul­li­van
Stan­ley Young, Elec­tric­al En­gin­eer­ing
Lil­lian Xu, Elec­tric­al En­gin­eer­ing
Phil Shafer
Stathis Tom­paid­is

Research in Progress

  • Bi­furc­a­tion of Lorenz-like sys­tems
  • Gaps in sym­bol­ic se­quences
  • Two-di­men­sion­al con­tin­ued frac­tions and a par­tial con­verse to the Per­ron–Frobeni­us the­or­em

Research Support

  • NSF grants, 1963–1988
  • NSF grants, 1990–1991, 1991–1992
  • Texas Ap­plied Re­search Grant, 1987–89
  • Grant from Math­em­at­ic­al Sci­ences Re­search In­sti­tute to at­tend a week-long work­shop in Berke­ley
  • Grant from the Uni­versity In­sti­tute for a sab­bat­ic­al, Spring 1992