Department of Mathematics Adds Group Theory Expert to Faculty

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Matt Clay

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce that Matt T. Clay will soon join the department of mathematical sciences as an assistant professor. Clay comes to the University of Arkansas from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, where he has been an assistant professor since 2009. His arrival in Fayetteville will be delayed one semester due to a grant that will take him to Europe for research this fall.

“Dr. Clay is a great fit for Fulbright College and the department,” said Chaim Goodman-Strauss, professor of mathematics and chair of the department. “Not only is he an accomplished researcher, but he also has impressive classroom experience and the ability to bring an interest in mathematics to those outside the classroom through his enthusiasm for the subject.”

Clay’s research interests include geometric group theory, automorphisms of free groups, mapping class groups and group actions on trees. He has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles and given invited talks at conferences and universities across the United States and Canada.

I’m excited to join this department,” said Clay. “These are great people who go out of their way to make newcomers feel welcome. They even have a daily tea time so the faculty and students can really get to know each other.”

Clay has received awards and grants from the National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Mathematics. His latest award, from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, provides for three months of research at a topology and probability lab. As part of his semester abroad, Clay has organized a conference on automorphisms of free groups, which will be held at the Centre de Recerca Matematica in Barcelona, Spain.

Clay earned a bachelor of science in mathematics from the University of Oregon (2001). He holds a master of science (2003) and doctorate (2006) in mathematics from the University of Utah.