Michael John Dorff is a mathematician at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

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 disciplinIt is a fairly recent concept in the academic community, with roots i ...

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

Life and career

Michael Dorff received his BA in Mathematics Education from

in 1986. He then taught High School math at Palos Verdes High, California, and Nurnberg High, Germany from 1986–1990. He received his MS from

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

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. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

in 1997. He taught at

University of Missouri-Rolla Missouri University of Science and Technology, or Missouri S&T, is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 7,645 students (fall 2020) study engineering, busi ...

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 Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

in 2011. He was the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at

from 2015–2019. Dorff visited

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

as an assistant professor in the Spring of 2003, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Poland from 2005–2006, and

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, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

as a mathematician in Washington D.C. in 2012. Dorff founded the NSF-funded

Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics The Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM) is an undergraduate mathematical sciences research skills development program funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). CURM is administered by Occidental College in L ...

CURM and directed it from 2006–2017. He co-founded and co-directed the NSF-funded PIC (Preparation of Industrial Careers) Math program with Dr.

Suzanne Weekes Suzanne L. Weekes is the Executive Director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is also Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). She is a co-founder of the Mathematical Sciences Research ...

. He has served on several international and national advisory boards including the East African Centre of Mathematical Research in Kampala Uganda, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), and the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR).https://math.byu.edu/~mdorff/ His research interests include geometric function theory, complex analysis, minimal surfaces, data analytics, and preparing students for non-academic careers. In 2018, He was asked to be part of a compilation of videos about beauty at BYU. For his video, he discussed his work with soap bubbles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0jxX67ghPA He married Sarah Watts Dorff; together they had 5 daughters. They are members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. While working at BYU, Michael was invited to give a devotional on campus on April 3, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0wFmKn0KO8&feature=emb_logo

Awards and honors

* 2020, Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Fellows Award. * 2019–2020, President of the

. * In 2015, The "Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference" from the AMS for CURM. * 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, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
/ref> * 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.

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)