{"524461":{"#nid":"524461","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thomas Earns Top Faculty Honor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/users\/thomas\u0022\u003ERobin Thomas\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;has a remarkable record of teaching, service, and research. He is a Regents Professor, recipient of the Neuron Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mathematics, and a member of the 2012 inaugural class of American Mathematical Society Fellows. He has more than 100 papers appearing in top journals, and he has been awarded the Fulkerson Prize for outstanding papers in the area of discrete mathematics. Twice. This accomplishment has been matched by only four other researchers in the history of the prize. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThomas is now the recipient of Georgia Tech\u2019s highest award given to a faculty member: the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis award is special because it\u2019s from Georgia Tech,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI\u2019ve been at Georgia Tech for over 25 years, so receiving this award means a lot to me.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award recognizes outstanding achievement in teaching, research, and service. Instituted in 1984 by the Class of 1934 in observance of its 50th reunion, the award is presented to an active professor who has made significant, long-term contributions \u2014 contributions that would have brought widespread recognition to the professor, to his or her school, and to the Institute. The award includes a stipend of $20,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELetters of support for Thomas\u2019 nomination came from world-renowned senior researchers familiar with the significance of his work, former Ph.D. students who wrote of his record as a teacher and mentor, and former postdoctoral fellows who praised his ability to develop young talent.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDean of Tech\u2019s College of Sciences Paul Goldbart said, \u201cRobin is a shining star in the international firmament of modern mathematics \u2014 a brilliant researcher, inspiring mentor, superb instructor, and treasured colleague. Just today, I had the pleasure of hearing from one of our mathematics graduate students about a glorious contribution of Robin\u2019s to the famous four-color problem of map and graph theory.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5 class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch in Discrete Mathematics\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore coming to Tech in 1989, Thomas worked at Bellcore, a telecommunication research and development company.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe reason I came here is because Georgia Tech made me an offer I could not refuse,\u201d he said. \u201cI was technically working in industry, but, in reality, I was also doing my own research. So, in that sense, the research part was not that different.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThomas\u2019 research in discrete mathematics is concentrated in the fields of graph theory and combinatorics, areas with applications across a wide span, from engineering and computer science to economics, biology, and social science. The issues being researched are often motivated by real-world problems in telephone network design, airline scheduling, online auctions, and Internet design and searching. Many of the problems solved by Thomas and his collaborators were open for several decades and had successfully resisted the best efforts of the world\u2019s leading researchers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThomas also is director of Tech\u2019s Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO) program, an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program linking the College of Computing, the School of Mathematics, and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. About half of ACO\u2019s Ph.D. students go into academia and the others go into industry.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThomas has graduated 16 Ph.D. students at Tech, and he has been an informal advisor to many others.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn receiving the Class of 1934 Distinguished Faculty Award, he joins ACO colleagues Dick Lipton (Computer Science) and George Nemhauser (Industrial and Systems Engineering), who were honored with the award in 2012 and 2015, respectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5 class=\u0022p6\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPersevering with ALS\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2008, Thomas was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease. The disease is characterized by stiff muscles, twitching, and a gradual decrease in muscle\u0026nbsp; strength, resulting in difficulty speaking, swallowing, and eventually breathing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a progressive disease, where I\u2019m gradually losing the use of my legs and other functions,\u201d said Thomas, who uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI had to completely change the way I deliver lectures,\u201d said Thomas, who is on faculty development leave this semester, but usually teaches Applied Combinatorics (Math 3012) and Graph Theory (Math 6014). \u201cI can no longer stand in front of a whiteboard. At first, I was writing my lectures on paper and using a document camera to project it onto a screen. But that\u2019s no longer possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow, Thomas prepares his lectures in advance, which he says is both good and bad.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s good because students get to see the material ahead of time. They can print it and bring it to class. The bad thing is that I have to anticipate the students\u2019 questions. So I design my lectures where I ask the questions for them and then reveal the answers.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf course, Thomas cannot anticipate every question. When a student asks a question that he did not expect, he answers it and asks for a student volunteer to write the answer on the white board. He also has a teaching assistant to help him prepare for class.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough Thomas\u2019 body is failing him, his mind remains sharp and focused.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are lots of ongoing research projects that I would like to finish,\u201d he said. \u201cIn terms of career moves, I don\u2019t have any aspirations to be a department chair or anything similar. I\u2019m quite happy with running the ACO Program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobin Thomas, of the School of Mathematics, is the recipient of the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, the highest Georgia Tech award to a faculty member.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award is Georgia Tech\u2019s highest award given to a faculty member."}],"uid":"27570","created_gmt":"2016-04-13 16:46:19","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:21","author":"Will Rusk","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"524451":{"id":"524451","type":"image","title":"Robin Thomas","body":null,"created":"1460995200","gmt_created":"2016-04-18 16:00:00","changed":"1475895296","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:56","alt":"Robin Thomas","file":{"fid":"205459","name":"thomas.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thomas_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thomas_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":694148,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thomas_0.jpeg?itok=j8bJb1nt"}}},"media_ids":["524451"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"20421","name":"1934 Distinguished Professor Award"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}