Dr. Robert F. Olin

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Robert F. Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama, has been appointed chair of the American Mathematical Society’s Committee on Science Policy.

Founded in 1888, the American Mathematical Society is the world’s leading mathematical research society and seeks to promote mathematical research, education and appreciation of mathematics. The Committee on Science Policy is one of five major committees that oversee the organization’s policies. Olin has been a member of the committee since 2003.

The American Mathematical Society has more than 28,000 individual members and 550 institutional members in the United States and 140 other countries. Members include students, college and university faculty, and mathematicians employed in government and in the private sector. Olin’s term as chairman of the committee is effective February 2005 to January 2006.

Other continuing members of the committee include nationally noted mathematicians James G. Arthur, professor of mathematics, University of Toronto; Robert J. Daverman, professor of mathematics, University of Tennessee Knoxville; David Eisenbud, professor of mathematics and director of Mathematical Sciences Research Institution, University of Californian Berkeley; Mark Goresky, professor of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University; Susan Hermiller, associate professor of mathematics, University of Nebraska Lincoln; William E. Kirwan, president, University of Maryland at College Park; and Alvany Rocha, professor of mathematics, Graduate Center of CUNY.

Olin is nationally recognized for his innovative implementation of technology in education. During his 25-year career as a professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech, Olin founded the Math Emporium, the first such computer-based student laboratory in the country.

When he joined UA in 2000, Olin established a similar facility.

UA’s Math Technology Learning Center, a 240-computer math learning community housed under UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, was designed to remove traditional obstacles to undergraduate learning of math by replacing lecture and blackboard instruction with interactive, self-paced computer programs in an environment where students also receive individual tutoring. Located in Tutwiler Hall on the UA campus, the MLTC received the Special Award of Merit from the Alabama Quality Council in 2000.

Olin is also a member of two standing boards in the National Research Council, the Committee on Undergraduate Science Education and the Steering Committee on Criteria and Benchmarks for Increased Learning in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

While at UA, Olin has also spearheaded efforts to adapt college courses for the use of technology and overseen the construction of the $58 million, high-tech Shelby Hall – UA’s interdisciplinary transportation and science complex – which is one of the largest academic research buildings in the Southeast.

Olin received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1970 from Ottawa University in Kansas and a doctorate in mathematics in 1975 from Indiana University in Bloomington. He has authored numerous scholarly papers in the fields of operator theory and functional analysis and has more than 20 years of continuous research funding.

The College of Arts and Sciences is Alabama’s largest liberal arts college and the University’s largest division with 355 faculty and 6,600 students.