William Jaco

Who is William Jaco?

Dr. 'William "Bus" H. Jaco' is an American Mathematician, who currently resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Jaco's contributions to mathematics have been many and varied. Best known among 3-manifold theorists for his major role in the Jaco-Shalen-Johannson decomposition JSJ decomposition theorem, he has also contributed across many other areas. With influential terms as Executive Officer of the American Mathematical Society, Head of Department at Oklahoma State University and extensive on-going service across local and national levels, he has played a significant role in the shape of the profession today. He also maintains an active research programme, focused on Triangulations, Normal Surfaces and Algorithms associated to these techniques. He currently researches and teaches at Oklahoma State University where he holds distinguished titles such as Regents Professor and Grace B. Kerr Professor.

In 2005, Jaco traveled to Peking University in Beijing, China to teach a summer course in Topology. The class met six hours a week and had 70 students, including a host professor, Wang Shicheng.