Geelen appointed University Research Chair

Jim Geelen was appointed a University Research Chair in recognition of his outstanding research accomplishments. Since 1999, Jim has been working with Professors Bert Gerards (CWI and Maastricht University, the Netherlands) and Geoff Whittle (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) on the Matroids Minors Project, which provides deep insights into the structure of matroids. This structure in turn, was used to prove the celebrated 40-year old Rota's conjecture which characterizes the matroids that are representable over a finite field.

Jim is a professor in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization. He held a Canada Research Chair from 2003 to 2013. He has received several prestigious honours including a Fulkerson Prize, a Sloan Fellowship, and the Coxeter-James Prize. His University Research Chair appointment will be held from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2021.