Department of Mathematics
University of Idaho - Moscow, Idaho
Professor Willy Brandal
Education:
B.S. Mathematics 1964 University of Washington (Seattle WA)
M.A. Mathematics 1967 University of Washington (Seattle WA)
Ph.D. Mathematics 1972 Northwestern University (Evanston IL)
Academic Teaching Experience:
1971-73 Northwestern University (Evanston IL)
1973-75 Colorado State University (Ft. Collins CO)
1975-80 University of Tennessee (Knoxville TN)
1980-present University of Idaho (Moscow ID)
Research Interest:
I study commutative rings, emphasizing the decomposition of rings and modules
into direct sums. This usually involves prime ideals or torsion theories or
topological considerations. Many results take the form of generalizing to commutative
rings some well known theorem such as:
(a) the fundamental theorem of Abelian groups, or
(b) the Chinese remainder theorem, or
(c) the theorem that every torsion Abelian group is a direct sum of its p-subgroups.
Publications:
Recent Algebra Seminars at the University of Idaho:
1. Fall 1997 and Spring 1998. We had Visiting Professor Jonathan Golan, from
the University of Haifa, direct the seminar in the area of semirings. This consisted
of a brief overview of semirings from his 1992 text "The Theory of Semirings
with Applications to Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science," plus reading
a lot of journal articles related to semiring.
2. Fall 1998. I directed the seminar, where we studied prime ideals in commutative
rings, and related topological considerations. About one half of the time dealt
with the prime ideals of the ring of entire functions, and involved reading
some journal articles by Melvin Henriksen.
3. Spring 1999. Several of our algebra faculty are jointly directing a study
of algebraic geometry. We will read the text "Algebraic Curves" by William Fulton.
Return to the Faculty and Staff
Page