After studying mathematics at the University of Rochester, I went to graduate school at Yale, receiving my Ph.D. there in 1971 while on active duty in the United States Army. My academic career began in 1972 as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, where I am now Gordon T. Whyburn Professor of Mathematics. From 1993 to 1999, I served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics. From 1986-88, I was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. I have lectured and held visiting positions in many universities in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

My research interest center on representation theory of finite groups, Lie algebras, and related mathematical objects. In simplest terms, representation theory concerns representing mathematical objects such as groups concretely in terms of matrices. Invented in the last decade of the 19th century, the subject finds many important applications elsewhere in mathematics, and also in physics, chemistry, and information technology. Although the subject is over 100 years old, many major problems remain unsolved. Their solutions and applications will involve mathematicians well into the next century.

My research activity often involves collaboration with colleagues Leonard Scott (Virginia) and Ed Cline (Oklahoma). Together our "team," known as CPS, has (most likely) the distinction of being the longest continuously running triple collaboration in the history of mathematics. We have made many contributions to the cohomology of finite groups of Lie type, the theory of finite dimensional algebras (the well-known theory of quasi-hereditary algebras originated at UVa), and the representation theory of reductive groups in describing and non-describing characteristic. Eric Friedlander (Northwestern) and I established the theory of support varieties for infinitesimal groups in the 1980s, and I continue to work with the Chinese mathematicians Jian-pan Wang (ECNU, Shanghai) and Jie Du (New South Wales) on topics involving quantum groups and algebras.