Mark Louis Tomforde is an American mathematician who works on operator algebras and C*-algebras, topics in the broader area of functional analysis. He held academic positions at the University of Houston and at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Biography Tomforde earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at Dartmouth College in 2002.
He was an invited speaker at the 2015 Abel Symposium, and he is a founding member of the Algebras and Rings in Colorado Springs (ARCS) center. Tomforde has researched the related areas of graph C*-algebras and Leavitt path algebras. With Doug Drinen, he is co-creator of the Drinen–Tomforde desingularization, often simply called desingularization.Ch.6 of Graph Algebras, Iain Raeburn, CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics, 103. Published for the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, Washington, DC; by the American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2005. vi+113 pp. With Gene Abrams, Tomforde has formulated the Abrams–Tomforde conjectures, and Abrams and Tomforde have verified certain special cases of the conjectures.Isomorphism and Morita equivalence of graph algebras, Gene Abrams and Mark Tomforde, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 363 (2011), no. 7, 3733-3767. Tomforde studied ultragraph C*-algebras.A unified approach to Exel-Laca algebras and C*-algebras associated to graphs, Mark Tomforde, J. Operator Theory 50 (2003), no. 2, 345-368. Tomforde has also been active in organizing several conferences on graph C*-algebras and their generalizations, with the goal of bringing together analysts and algebraists to share ideas and collaborate."Graph Algebras: Operator Algebras We Can See", NSF-CBMS Regional Conference in the Mathematical Sciences, Principal Lecturer: Iain Raeburn, Organizers: Paul Muhly, David Pask, and Paul Muhly, University of Iowa, June 2004 "Graph Algebras in Analysis and Algebra", Special Session at the AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, Organizers: Gene Abrams and Mark Tomforde, San Francisco, CA, January 2010 "Graph Algebras: Bridges between graph C*-algebras and Leavitt path algebras", 5-day workshop at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS), Main Organizer: Mark Tomforde, April 2013 "Classification of C*-algebras, Flow Equivalence of Shift Spaces, and Graph and Leavitt Path Algebras", Principal Lecturer: Søren Eilers, Organizers: Gary Birkenmeier, Daniel Davis, P. W. Ng, Leonel Robert, and Mark Tomforde, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, May 2015 "Workshop on Cuntz-Pimsner Algebras", Organizer: Mark Tomforde, University of Houston, December 2019
Tomforde created and directed the Cougars and Houston Area Mathematics Program (CHAMP), which was last active in Spring 2019. CHAMP had previously received an award from Phi Beta KappaPhi Beta Kappa Award for Engaging Broader Audiences, and the Award for Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference from the American Mathematical Society.Mathematics Programs That Make a Difference Notices of the American Mathematical Society Vol. 65, Num. 5, May 2018Building on a Foundation of Grit: Houston's CHAMP Gives Students Tools for Success in STEM (and Life) by Elizabeth Platt Hamblin, Notices of the American Mathematical Society Vol. 65, Num. 5, May 2018, p.572--577 In 2019 Tomforde was recognized with the MAA Texas Section's Distinguished College and University Teaching of Mathematics Award. In 2020 he was a recipient of a Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics from the Mathematical Association of America.
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