![[Picture of Will]](will.jpg)
Will Traves graduated from the Ph.D. program at the University of Toronto in June, 1998. His research was supervised by Professors Mark Spivakovsky (University of Toronto) and Karen E. Smith (The University of Michigan and Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His current research interests are in Algebraic Geometry and Commutative Algebra. Specifically, he is interested in the extent to which differential operators can detect and classify singularities of algebraic varieties. He is also interested in prime characteristic methods, particularly how the theory of tight closure relates to differential operators. He is currently a visitor at MSRI and The University of Michigan , where he holds an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship. In January 1999, he will move to the United States Naval Academy.
During the Fall of 1996 and Winter of 1998, Will was a visitor at The University of Michigan and during the Spring of 1997, he was a visitor at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences . In the Fall of 1997, Will was a visitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .
Will is an enthusiastic teacher and is interested in a number of topics related to mathematics education. In May of 1997 he gave an invited lecture at SIMMER, the University of Toronto's liason with mathematics teachers. In the Summer of 1997 he taught MAT 133Y, Calculus and Linear Algebra for Commerce Students , and in 1996 he was awarded the Daniel B. Delury Teaching Award at the University of Toronto. In 1998, Will taught Calculus at The University of Michigan.
More about Will's teaching.Will has a variety of other interests, both academic and nonacademic. He received a BSc Degree (Honours, 1993) from Queen's University, Canada. There, he worked with Agnes M. Herzberg on Design of Experiments and related projects. He also worked closely with Anthony V. Geramita throughout his undergraduate studies. In the Summer of 1991, he worked on the Master and Servant in the British Commonwealth program at York University/Osgoode Hall Law School, where he was responsible for cluster analysis of a large body of legal statutes. From 1993 to 1997, he lived at the Heath Street Housing Cooperative, and he served as its treasurer from 1994-1996. He is a strong chess player, a dedicated cylcist and an enthusiastic squash partner.