Ron Irving
Ron Irving is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at UW. After an early interest in astronomy, he decided at the age of eight to pursue mathematics. In high school, he attended summer programs in both mathematics and astronomy. Irving received his A.B. degree in mathematics and philosophy at Harvard and his Ph.D. in mathematics at M.I.T. He joined the faculty at UW in 1980.
In 2001, Irving received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award for his work with math majors planning on careers as secondary teachers. He then became department chair and developed the idea for SIMUW along with colleague Jim Morrow. After a year as chair, Irving became divisional dean of natural sciences, and later the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Five years after returning to the department, Irving will again become its chair, at the same time that SIMUW 2013 begins.
Outside of the department, Irving has served over the last three years as director of a new undergraduate degree in integrated sciences, overseeing the process of creating and obtaining approval for it. He is the secretary-treasurer of the Astrophysical Research Consortium, which runs Apache Point Observatory in southern New Mexico, and president of the board of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.