Walter John Whiteley is a professor in the department of mathematics and statistics at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in Canada. He specializes in

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

and

mathematics education In contemporary education, mathematics education, known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics – is the practice of teaching, learning and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge. Although rese ...

, and is known for his expertise in

structural rigidity In discrete geometry and mechanics, structural rigidity is a combinatorial theory for predicting the flexibility of ensembles formed by rigid bodies connected by flexible linkages or hinges. Definitions Rigidity is the property of a structure ...

and

rigidity matroid In the mathematics of structural rigidity, a rigidity matroid is a matroid that describes the number of Degrees of freedom (mechanics), degrees of freedom of an undirected graph with rigid edges of fixed lengths, embedded into Euclidean space. In ...

Education and career

Whiteley graduated from Queen's University in 1966.. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971 from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, with a dissertation titled ''Logic and Invariant Theory'' supervised by

Gian-Carlo Rota Gian-Carlo Rota (April 27, 1932 – April 18, 1999) was an Italian-American mathematician and philosopher. He spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked in combinatorics, functional analysis, pro ...

. He worked as an instructor at

Champlain College Saint-Lambert Champlain College Saint-Lambert ( French: ''Collège Champlain Saint-Lambert)'' is an English-language college in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, Canada that is part of Quebec's CEGEP public education system. It is a campus of Champlain Regional College, ...

, with a joint appointment in mathematics and humanities, from 1972 until he joined the York University faculty in 1992.

Awards and honours

In 2009, Whiteley won the

Adrien Pouliot Award The Adrien Pouliot Award is presented annually by the Canadian Mathematical Society. The award is presented to individuals or teams in recognition of significant contributions to mathematics education in Canada. The inaugural award was presented i ...

of the

Canadian Mathematical Society The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) (french: Société mathématique du Canada) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research, outreach, scholarship and education in Canada. It serves the ...

for his contributions to mathematics education.. In August 2014, the

Fields Institute The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, commonly known simply as the Fields Institute, is an international centre for scientific research in mathematical sciences. It is an independent non-profit with strong ties to 20 Ontari ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

hosted a workshop on rigidity theory and spatial reasoning, "inspired by the distinguished career of Professor Walter Whiteley"..

Selected publications

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References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Walter John Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian mathematicians Geometers Queen's University at Kingston alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni York University faculty