Michael E. Stillman

Michael E. Stillman is a Professor of Mathematics at Cornell University and holds the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship. He is affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Mathematics. His research focuses on computational algebra, algebraic geometry, and commutative algebra, with applications to string theory, statistics, and biology. He co-developed the influential software Macaulay2, widely used in algebraic geometry and computational algebra.

Education: Ph.D. in Mathematics from Harvard University (1983). He has received notable awards, including the Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award (2013) and the Jenks Prize for Software Engineering. His work includes studies on Hilbert schemes, toric varieties, and Gröbner bases algorithms.

Teaching highlights include courses like Linear Algebra (MATH 4310), Commutative Algebra, and Algebraic Geometry. He has advised over a dozen doctoral students, including Hal Schenck and Mauricio Velasco. His recent courses include Supervised Research (MATH 4900) and Modeling with Calculus for the Life Sciences (MATH 1106).

Research contributions span computational methods in algebraic geometry, with publications in Duke Math. J., Inventiones Mathematicae, and others. He has organized conferences and workshops on computational algebra and mentored graduate students extensively.