Richard Timothy Durrett 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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

known for his research and books on mathematical

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

stochastic processes In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appe ...

and their application to mathematical ecology and

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...

Education and career

He received his BS and MS at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 1972 and 1973 and his Ph.D. at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1976 under advisor Donald Iglehart. From 1976 to 1985 he taught at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. From 1985 until 2010 was on the faculty 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 teach an ...

, where his students included

Claudia Neuhauser Claudia Maria Neuhauser (born 1962) is a mathematical biologist. whose research concerns spatial ecology. She also investigates computational biology and bioinformatics. Education and career As a student, Neuhauser studied mathematics and phy ...

. Since 2010, Durrett has been a professor at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. He was elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2007. In 2012 he became a 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, ...

. Durrett is the founder of the Cornell Probability Summer Schools.

Selected publications

Books

* Durrett, R. ''Probability. Theory and examples''. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA (1991). 453 pp.
4th edition, 2010
ref> * Durrett, R. ''Probability models for DNA sequence evolution''. Springer-Verlag, New York (2002). 240 pp.

* Durrett, R

CRC Press (1996). 341 pp. * Durrett, R. ''Random Graph Dynamics''. Cambridge University Press (2006). 222 pp.

Papers

* * (This article has over 1100 citations.)

References

External links

Personal Home Page at Duke University

Cornell Probability Summer Schools
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durrett, Richard 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Cornell University faculty Probability theorists Living people Emory University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Duke University faculty American mathematicians