James A. Carlson, professor and former head of the University of Utah mathematics department, has been appointed president of the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
The appointment becomes effective in August. As president, he will lead the research activities of the Institute, develop programs in Cambridge and elsewhere, and serve as liaison with leading mathematicians worldwide.
Carlson has been noted as a distinguished research mathematician and as an energetic educator. He was a founding member of Institute for Advanced Study that brings high school teachers to Park City each year for training. He joined the U. faculty in 1975 after teaching at Stanford and Brandeis universities.
Carlson said he welcomes the opportunity to work with an institute that "encourages the development and dissemination of mathematics at the highest level."