Neil M. Donaldson

Biography

Neil M. Donaldson, Ph.D., is a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics (Differential Geometry) from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom in 2006. His research has focused on differential geometry and integrable systems, with particular emphasis on isothermic submanifolds and symmetric R-spaces, resulting in publications in journals including the Journal of Geometric Analysis, Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik, and Transactions of the American Mathematical Society.

At UC Irvine, Donaldson has taught 25 distinct undergraduate courses ranging from freshman calculus to upper-division specialties. He served as Calculus Coordinator from Fall 2017 to Spring 2020, where he wrote and managed common exams, syllabi, and homework while providing support for up to 3,000 students per term. He has developed extensive course materials for multiple courses, including Functions and Modelling, Introduction to Abstract Mathematics, Modern Geometry, and History of Mathematics.

Donaldson co-wrote the current Introduction to Abstract Mathematics course text with Alessandra Pantano, a resource comprising over 200 pages with hundreds of exercises. He has produced formal course notes for the majority of courses he has taught and created pictorial materials using Asymptote for mathematical figures and animations. All of his course materials are hosted publicly and source code for several sets of notes has been made available on GitHub, with these resources being used by instructors and students at UCI and other institutions.

Education

• Ph.D. in Mathematics (Differential Geometry), University of Bath, UK, 2006
• B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, UK, 2002