Gerald L. "Jerry" Alexanderson taught in the 91¶ÌÊÓƵ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science from 1958-2018 and served as our Chair for more than 35 years. It is no exaggeration to say that he built the department that thrives today.
When Alexanderson retired, his colleague and former student, Professor Richard Scott, proposed an annual lecture to honor his love, not just for mathematics, but for mathematics communicated well. In only a few months, generous alumni provided enough support to fund the Alexanderson Lecture for many years. At the inaugural lecture in December 2018, Persi Diaconis set a very high standard for speakers. We are proud to share the growing list of those selected to offer the Alexanderson Lecture. Links to recordings are provided when available.
2018: Persi Diaconis, Stanford University. Universality and the Taming of Randomness.
2019: Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Breaking up is hard to do: The art of decomposition in arithmetic and geometry
2021: Laura DeMarco, Harvard University. .
2022: Ami Radunskaya, Harvey Mudd University. The recording of the talk is poor, but Radunskaya opened the evening with .
2023: Bruce Sagan, Michigan State University. .
2024 Steve DeBakker, University of Michigan.
2025 Hortensia Soto, Colorado State University.
2026 William Dunham, Bryn Mawr College.