Michael Handel | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Brandeis University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (PhD) |
| Known for | Dynamical Systems |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Lehman College CUNY Graduate Center |
| Thesis | A Resolution of Two Stratification Conjectures Concerning CS Sets (1975) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robion Kirby |
Michael Handel is an American mathematician known for his work in Geometric group theory. He is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Lehman College of the City University of New York and a professor of mathematics at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Michael Handel graduated with a B.A. in mathematics from Brandeis University in 1971. [1] He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, in 1975 under the supervision of Robion Kirby. [2] From 1975 to 1978, he was an instructor at Princeton University. He joined the faculty of Michigan State University as an assistant professor in 1978, [3] and was promoted to associate professor in 1983. [4] Handel was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1978 to 1979, and again from 1987 to 1988. [5] In 1990, he joined the Mathematics Department at Lehman College.
Handel is best known for developing the Train track map method in Geometric group theory in collaboration with Mladen Bestvina in 1992. [6] Bestvina, Feighn and Handel later proved that the group Out(Fn) satisfies the Tits alternative, settling a long-standing open problem. [7] [8]
