Edward Burger Burger (born December 10, 1964)Grondahl, Paul.

. ''Times Union''. October 16, 2005. Retrieved May 2, 2008. is a mathematician and President Emeritus of

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwestern o ...

in Georgetown, Texas. Previously, he was the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Mathematics at

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

, and the Robert Foster Cherry Professor for Great Teaching at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

. He also had been named to a single-year-appointment as vice provost of strategic educational initiatives at Baylor University in February 2011. He currently serves as the president and CEO of St. David's Foundation. Burger has been honored as a leader in education. He has been a keynote speaker, invited special session speaker, or the conference chair at a number of

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, ...

, Mathematical Association of America, and the

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Founded in 1920, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is a professional organization for schoolteachers of mathematics in the United States. One of its goals is to improve the standards of mathematics in education. NCTM holds an ...

conferences. During the late 1980s Burger was featured at a stand-up comedy club in Austin, Texas and also was an 'independent contractor', writing for Jay Leno. Today he has a weekly program on higher education, thinking, and learning produced by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Austin affiliate KUT called Higher ED.

Education

Graduated from

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

in 1985, where he had earned

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

summa cum laude with distinction in mathematics,Burger, Edward B
Faculty page
. Williams College. September 9, 1999. Retrieved May 1, 2008. in 1990, he was awarded his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in mathematics from

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He did his postdoctoral work at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

in Canada. In 2013 he was awarded an LL.D. from Williams College.

Career

Research

His research interests include algebraic number theory,

Diophantine analysis In mathematics, a Diophantine equation is an equation, typically a polynomial equation in two or more unknowns with integer coefficients, such that the only solutions of interest are the integer ones. A linear Diophantine equation equates to a c ...

, ''p''-adic analysis,

geometry of numbers Geometry of numbers is the part of number theory which uses geometry for the study of algebraic numbers. Typically, a ring of algebraic integers is viewed as a lattice in \mathbb R^n, and the study of these lattices provides fundamental informatio ...

, and the theory of

continued fraction In mathematics, a continued fraction is an expression obtained through an iterative process of representing a number as the sum of its integer part and the reciprocal of another number, then writing this other number as the sum of its integer ...

s.Press release:
Mathematician Edward B. Burger Named Gaudino Scholar at Williams
". April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2008. He teaches

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures include group (mathematics), groups, ring (mathematics), rings, field (mathematics), fields, module (mathe ...

, "The Art of Creating Mathematics", and Diophantine analysis.

Teaching

He has taught or has been a visiting scholar at

, Westminster College,

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

, the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

Concordia University Texas Concordia University Texas is a private university in Austin, Texas. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and online degrees as well as an adult degree program for part-time and returning students. Concordia University Texas is affi ...

, and the Macquarie University in Australia. Burger is a pioneer in rich, multimedia Internet lectures that, together with written material, form an electronic textbook. Traub, James.
This Campus Is Being Simulated
. ''New York Times Magazine''. November 19, 2000. Retrieved May 1, 2008. Together wit
Thinkwell
Burger "crafted the first-ever virtual, CD-ROM video, interactive, mathematics texts/courses" published over the World Wide Web. Additionally, his lesson tutorial videos earned publishe
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
one of the 2007 ''Awards of Excellence''Poftak , Amy and Susan McLester
Awards of Excellence
. ''Technology & Learning''. December 15, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2008. from ''Technology & Learning'', an academic publication. Burger has written and starred in number of educational videos, including the 24-lecture video series
Zero to Infinity: A History of Numbers
' and
An Introduction to Number Theory
'. He has delivered more than 400 lectures worldwide and has appeared on more than 40 radio and TV programs including ''

ABC News Now ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming de ...

'' on

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neig ...

in New York and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. He starred in the "Mathletes" episode of NBC's "Science of the Winter Olympics" series shown on the Today Show and throughout the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In recognition for his work in multimedia education technology, The Association of Educational Publishers awarded Burger with the 2007 ''Distinguished Achievement Award'' for Educational Video Technology.Burger, Edward B.
Honors and Awards
. Williams College. Retrieved May 1, 2008. Burger feels that "math trauma" is commonly inflicted upon America's elementary and middle-school students, particularly girls, having received a seventh-grade report card stating: "Eddie is a nice boy, but he'll never do well in math." He offers hisnts "challenging questions for which the solution is by no means apparent".Stern, Zelda
Can Creativity Be Taught?
''Williams Alumni Review''. June 2006. Retrieved May 1, 2008. For example, when teaching students about

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...

, he asked students if it is "possible to take a cord of rope long and tie it snugly around your right ankle and your left ankle, take off your pants, turn them inside out, and put your pants back on without ever cutting the rope?" He proceeded to demonstrate the solution to that challenge, wearing huge

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

boxer shorts under his trousers, at the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

in the summer of 2005.Palmer, Lisa.
Mathematics made fun: Williams professor takes creative approach
. ''The Boston Globe''. October 16, 2005. Retrieved May 1, 2008. In addition to his math courses, Burger teaches a short course in comedy writing during the winter study program at Williams. Combining math with comedy comes from his days as a stand-up comic at th
Laff Stop Comedy Club
in Austin in the late-1980s.

Publications

Burger has written 12 books and has had more than 30 papers published in scholarly journals.Burger, Edward B.
Publications
". Williams College. Retrieved May 1, 2008. With Michael Starbird, he coauthore
''The Heart of Mathematics: An invitation to effective thinking''
for which they won a 2001 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award, and ''Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz,'', a humorous look at mathematics filed under both ''math'' and ''humor'' in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

catalog. Burger is also an associate editor for the American Mathematical Monthly and a member of the editorial board for K Peters Publishing Some of the books and papers he has authored or co-authored include:Burger, Edward B.
Books authored by and videos starring E.B. Burger
. Williams College. Retrieved May 2, 2008.Burger, Edward B.

. Williams College. Retrieved May 2, 2008. * , 1993 *
Pleasures vs. Problems
, February 2000 * ''Exploring the Number Jungle: A Journey into Diophantine Analysis'' (Student Mathematical Library, V. 8), , July 2000 *
'Math Forum'—I couldn't keep my distance: A mathematical seduction
February 2002 * ''The Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas: Part 1 & 2'' (The Great Courses – Science & Mathematics), * ''Making Transcendence Transparent: An intuitive approach to classical transcendental number theory'', , July 2004 * , , 2004 * ''Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas'', , August 2005 * ''Matematicas'', , 2007 * ''Mathematics: Course 2'', Holt, , January 2007 * ''Algebra 1'', Holt, , January 2007 * ''Extending the Frontiers of Mathematics: Inquiries into proof and argumentation'', , March 2007 * ''Algebra 2'', Holt, , August 2007
''The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking''
(with Michael Starbird) published by Princeton University Press in September 2012, Additionally, Burger has created virtual video textbooks on CD-ROM and on the web fo
Thinkwell
on the topics of "College Algebra", 2000; "Pre-Calculus", 2000; "Calculus", 2001; "Intermediate Algebra", 2001; "Beginning Algebra", 2004; "Trigonometry", 2006; "Prealgebra", 2007; and "Algebra II", 2011.

Professional positions

Burger has held the following professional positions:Burger, Edward B.

. Williams College. Retrieved May 1, 2008. ;

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

: Visiting lecturer, Summer 1990; Visiting Assistant Professor, Fall 1994; Visiting Scholar, Summer 1997 ;

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

: Postdoctoral fellow, 1990–1991 ;

: Assistant professor, 1990–1996; associate professor, 1997–2000; professor of mathematics, 2001–2013; chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, 2003–2006; Gaudino Scholar, 2008–2010; Lissack Professor for Social Responsibility and Personal Ethics, 2010–2012; Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Mathematics, 2012–2013 ;

; Macquarie University, Australia : Visiting fellow, summer 1999 ; Westminster College : Genevieve W. Gore Distinguished Resident, March 2001
Mass Interaction
: Mathematics consultant, summer 2001 ;

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

: Cecil and Ida Green Honors Professor, fall 2001 ; American Mathematical Monthly : Associate editor, 2002–present
The Educational Advancement Foundation
: Member of the board of trustees, 2004–2008
AK Peters Publishing
: Member of the editorial board, 2005–present ;

NUMB3RS ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heu ...

in the Classroom Project, CBS-TV/Paramount Studios/Texas Instruments : Mathematics advisor, 2005–2007 ; The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts :Member of the board, 2009–present ;

:Robert Foster Cherry Professor for Great Teaching, 2010–2012 :Vice provost for strategic educational initiatives, 2011–2012 ;

:15th president, 2013–2020 ;St. David's Foundation :President and CEO

Selected honors and awards

Some of the honors and awards Burger has received include: * 2014 Elected t
The Philosophical Society of Texas
*2013 Awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) fro
Williams College
* 2013 Fellow of the

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2012-11-10. * 2012 "Global Hero in Education", Named b
Microsoft Corporation
ref name="Honors" /> * 2010 Telly Award, for the "Mathletes" episode of the NBC-Universal television series "The Science of the Olympic Winter Games" (the entire series won a 2011 Emmy Award) * 2010 ''Game Changer'', Named by

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

; "HuffPost's Game Changers salutes 100 innovators, visionaries, mavericks, and leaders who are reshaping their fields and changing the world." * 2010 ''

Robert Foster Cherry Award The Robert Foster Cherry Award is a prize given biennially by Baylor University for "great teaching". The Cherry Award honors professors at the College or University level, in the English-speaking world, with established track records of teaching ex ...

for Great Teaching'' from

* 2007 ''Award of Excellence'', for "educational mathematics videos that break new ground", ''Technology & Learning'' magazine * 2007 ''Distinguished Achievement Award'', for Educational Video Technology, The Association of Educational Publishers * 2006 "100 Best of America", Listed in

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

Annual Special Issue as Best Math Teacher * 2006

Lester R. Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...

for the expository article ''A Tail of Two Palindromes'' * 2003 Residence Life Academic Teaching Award, University of Colorado at Boulder * 2001 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award, for "''The Heart of Mathematics''" * 1988 Mathematics Teaching Award, The University of Texas at Austin Burger is the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Mathematics and was the Lissack Professor for Social Responsibility and Personal Ethics (2010–2012) and the Gaudino Scholar (2008–2010) at

, where he was also awarded the 2007 '' Nelson Bushnell Prize'' for Scholarship and Teaching. Burger has been honored by

The 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 ...

on several occasions: 2001, Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics;The Mathematical Association of America's ''Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics''
/ref> 2001–2003,

George Pólya George Pólya (; hu, Pólya György, ; December 13, 1887 – September 7, 1985) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University. He made fundamenta ...

lecturer;The Mathematical Association of America's ''George Pólya Lecturers''
/ref> 2004, ''

Chauvenet Prize The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article ...

''; and 2006, ''

''The Mathematical Association of America's ''The Lester R. Ford Award''
Retrieved May 1, 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Edward B. 1964 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Connecticut College alumni University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences alumni Williams College faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society People from Georgetown, Texas