Alan Curtiss Tucker is an American mathematician. He is a professor of applied mathematics at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

, and the author of a widely used textbook on

combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...

; he has also made research contributions to

graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...

and

coding theory Coding theory is the study of the properties of codes and their respective fitness for specific applications. Codes are used for data compression, cryptography, error detection and correction, data transmission and computer data storage, data sto ...

. He has had four children, Katie, Lisa, Edward, and James.

Education and career

Alan Tucker was born on July 6, 1943. He is the son of Princeton mathematician Albert W. Tucker, who fostered the development of game theory in the mid-20th century – his students included John Nash and two other Economics Nobel Laureates. Alan earned a B.A. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1965 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1969.Curriculum vitae
retrieved 2014-10-07. He joined the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at

in 1970, and has remained there. His initial research interest was in combinatorial mathematics. Since 1989, he has been a S.U.N.Y. Distinguished Teaching Professor at Stony Brook. He chaired the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) project producing the influential report, Recommendations for a General Mathematical Science Major, that catalyzed a re-orientation of the U.S. mathematics major away from pre-doctoral training and towards preparation for a broad range of mathematical careers. In conjunction with that MAA project, he wrote the first textbook for a new course in applied combinatorial mathematics. His textbook has been used in hundreds of colleges and dozens of other textbooks have led to almost every mathematics departments offering a course in this area. In Stony Brook, he developed a successful major embodying the MAA report's recommendations: this major currently graduates over 400 students a year, 10% of all U.S. applied math B.S.'s. He was the lead writer of the widely-cited 2001 national report, The Mathematical Education of Teachers, that debunked the prevailing view that if future school teachers studied beginning college-level mathematics or majored in mathematics, there would be a trickle-down effect giving them mastery of primary school or secondary school mathematics, respectively. In directing subsequent projects to improve pre-service education of mathematics teachers, he organized workshops of mathematicians and mathematics educators that sketched out the foundation for the Common Core Curriculum in Mathematics.

Awards and honors

In 1994, Tucker received the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. In 2009, Tucker was named a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. He became one of the inaugural fellows 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, ...

in 2013.List of inaugural fellows

, retrieved 2014-10-07.

Selected publications

*. *. *. 3rd ed., 1995, . 6th ed., 2012, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Alan C. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American mathematicians Graph theorists Harvard University alumni Stanford University alumni Stony Brook University faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Place of birth missing (living people)

Education and career

Awards and honors

Selected publications

See also

References