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Sally Ramey, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, 919/513-0300

June 13 , 2006

Helminck Named Head of NC State’s Mathematics Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Aloysius “Loek” G. Helminck

Dr. Aloysius “Loek” G. Helminck has been named head of the Department of Mathematics in North Carolina State University’s College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. His appointment will become effective July 1.

Helminck joined NC State’s mathematics faculty in 1987 and was promoted to full professor in 2000. He has served as interim head of the department since 2005.

Helminck’s research focuses on symmetric spaces, their representations and applications. Symmetric spaces play an important role in many areas of mathematics, including geometry, singularity theory and, most importantly, representation theory.

He has held visiting positions at the University of Michigan and Brandeis University, and has had research fellowships at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, and Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Helminck received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and physics in 1975 and 1980, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1985. He earned all three degrees at the University of Utrecht in Utrecht, the Netherlands.