TORONTO, ON – June 15, 2020: The Fields Institute is delighted to announce Professor Deirdre Haskell as the incoming Deputy Director of the Institute, effective July 1, 2020. Dr. Haskell has had a longstanding relationship with Fields, and brings a wealth of experience with the Canadian mathematics community to this role.  

Dr. Haskell comes to Fields from McMaster University, where she is a Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. Her research in model-theoretic algebra has spanned an academic career of over 20 years across three countries and numerous eminent institutions.

Born in the US, she completed her BA at Oxford University in 1984. She moved back across the Atlantic to pursue a PhD at Stanford University, awarded in 1990, and back once more for a postdoctoral fellowship at Queen Mary College of the University of London. A final transatlantic move took her to the College of the Holy Cross in her first tenure-track position. Another country then beckoned, and she moved to McMaster University in Canada in 2000, where she was promoted to full professor and served several terms as Associate Chair (undergraduate) of the Mathematics & Statistics department.

Dr. Haskell’s research has been supported by grants from the NSF and NSERC. During her career, she has organised many international conferences, including some at the Fields Institute. She has served on committees of the Association for Symbolic Logic, on the editorial board of the Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, and is currently a managing editor of Math Logic Quarterly.

Regarding her appointment, Dr. Haskell said, “The Fields Institute has been a part of my mathematical life for my whole career, and it was a big part of my decision to move to Canada. My daughter attended her first conference here at the age of six weeks. I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve as its Deputy Director and help to shape its future in the (hopefully soon) post-COVID19 era.”

Dr. Haskell will succeed Professor Tom Salisbury, who has served as the Interim Deputy Director of the Institute from 2019 – 2020. In his second term as Deputy Director, having served in this role from 2003 to 2006, Professor Salisbury skillfully led the Centre for Quantitative Analysis and Modelling (CQAM) and supported the Institute through a time of transition and growth.

Bringing a fresh and innovative perspective to the role of Deputy Director, Dr. Haskell will work alongside Fields Director, Professor V. Kumar Murty, to help the Institute meet its ambitious goals. 

The Institute is supported by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Science Foundation (US), and a growing list of partner universities and institutes.

For more information please contact: 
Esther Berzunza, Manager of Development and Communications
eberzunz@fields.utoronto.ca