Joseph Gallian

Joseph A. Gallian (born January 5, 1942) is an American mathematician who is the Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Professional career Gallian completed his Ph.D. thesis, entitled Two-Step Centralizers in Finite p-Groups, at the University of Notre Dame in 1971 under the supervision of Karl Kronstein. He has been a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth since 1972. In addition to teaching math classes, he taught a humanities course called "The Lives and Music of the Beatles" for 33 years and a liberal arts course on math and sports.

Gallian has authored or edited six books (Contemporary Abstract Algebra, Taylor & Francis 10th edition; For All Practical Purposes, W.H. Freeman (coauthor); Principles and Practices of Mathematics, Springer-Verlag; Proceedings of the Conference on Summer Undergraduate Mathematics Research Programs, Editor, American Mathematical Society; Proceedings of the Conference on Promoting Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (editor), American Mathematical Society; Mathematics and Sports, Mathematical Association of America) and over 100 articles. He earned media attention in 1991 when he determined the methods used by Minnesota and many other states for assigning drivers' license numbers.

Between 1977 and 2025, Gallian ran forty-six Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The program has been funded by the University of Minnesota Duluth grants from the National Science Foundation (40+ years) and the National Security Agency (30+ years). It is one of the oldest and longest-running REUs in the country. As of the end of 2025, the program has had 292 undergraduate participants and has produced more than 330 publications in mainstream professional journals. More than 180 Duluth REU students have received a PhD degree.

Gallian served a 2-year term as the President of the Mathematical Association of America starting in January 2007.

In 2026 he received the AMS Elias M. Stein Mentoring Award.

Selected publications