Alan Cannon

IT ALL ADDS UP

Nearrings is not a word most people are familiar with, unless they really like math. Well, this year’s President’s Award winner for Excellence in Research Alan Cannon likes math. A lot. Nearrings also just happen to be his research area of emphasis.

For those unfamiliar, a nearring consists of a set with two operations defined on the set, typically called addition and multiplication, though the operations are typically not the usual addition and multiplication of real numbers. Several properties are assumed to hold for the set and the operations.

“Nearrings occur naturally in mathematics when a set of functions from a group to itself are considered under function addition and composition,” he explained. “This has been a mainstay of my research. While linear algebra is a fundamental branch of mathematics involving linear functions, nearrings provide the analogue for nonlinear functions.”

A faculty member since 1995, Cannon has consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in professional research, said Mathematics Department Head Timothy Hudson.

“While ensuring that his students receive the best possible classroom experiences and continuing an impressive record of university service,” Cannon received the President’s Excellence Award for Faculty Service in 2007, “he has shown a clear vision and devotion to his long-term research agenda that has resulted in a significant body of research activity, including an impressive publication record in peer-reviewed research journals and books, conference presentations, conference organization, and refereeing and reviewing research papers,” Hudson said.

“Dr. Cannon’s clear focus and progress on his research agenda has resulted in a valuable contribution to the knowledge base in his discipline,” Hudson added. “More importantly, he has a proven record of significant contributions to his primary field, as well as continuing to broaden his research interests, both within the area of abstract algebra and via interdisciplinary collaboration.”

Kent Neuerburg, J.W. McClimans Endowed Professor of Mathematics, a research collaborator of Cannon and the recipient of the 2019 President’s Excellence Award in Research, said that throughout his career, Cannon has produced a large volume of high-quality research in mathematics.

“His work has been disseminated to the larger mathematics community through both publications and conference presentations enhancing Southeastern’s reputation,” said Neuerburg. “He has mentored both junior faculty and undergraduate students, helping them hone their research skills. Southeastern is lucky to have the dedicated, active researcher we have in Dr. Alan Cannon.”