John E. Harper

Department of Mathematics
The Ohio State University, Newark
Newark, OH 43055
USA

Web: https://people.math.osu.edu/harper.903/
Email: harper.903@math.osu.edu
Office: Reese 254 : 740-755-7854
Office: MA 418 : 614-292-7670 (Columbus)


Students Grants Editorial Education Research CV Publications Visits Teaching Talks Conferences

Short Mathematical Biography

My mathematical career began while I was in graduate school at MIT for a period of 6 years (1996--2002). I started out studying aeronautics and astronautics, which I enjoyed immensely: during a simultaneous immersion into a long sequence of pure mathematics courses---undergraduate and then graduate level---at MIT, as I became aware of more mathematics, my interests evolved in the direction of algebraic topology and homotopy theory. Haynes Miller took an interest and graciously pointed me in the direction of Bill Dwyer. That summer I packed up and was off to South Bend, Indiana. Under the thesis guidance of Bill Dwyer, I received my PhD in mathematics at the University of Notre Dame (2003--2008). From 2008 to 2010 I had a postdoctoral position at EPFL (Switzerland) to work with Kathryn Hess. I then obtained a postdoctoral position at the University of Western Ontario (Canada), where I remained from 2010 to 2012, working with Rick Jardine. I spent the 2012--2013 academic year as a visiting assistant professor at Purdue University, working with Jim McClure. In the fall of 2013 I began my current position, starting out as an assistant professor (2013--2019) and continuing on as an associate professor (2019--2025) and professor (2025--present). I live in Upper Arlington, Ohio, 10 minutes from the Columbus campus (where I work with graduate students) and 35 minutes from the Newark campus (where I work with undergraduate students).


Mentoring Work: PhD Students (OSU)


Mentoring Work: Postdoctoral Fellows (OSU)


Mentoring Work: Undergraduate Students (OSU)


Mentoring Work: Masters Students (EPFL)


Mentoring Work: Undergraduate Students (EPFL)


Research Grants


Functor Calculus Workshop (OSU): March 16--17, 2019

We gratefully acknowledge funding from (i) the Mathematics Research Institute (MRI) under the "OSU Department of Mathematics Thematic Year on Topology" and (ii) the NSF-RTG #1547357 Algebraic Topology and Its Applications".


Research Interests

The areas I am interested in are homotopy theory and algebraic topology, and their interactions with closely related areas in mathematics; e.g., algebraic K-theory, algebraic number theory, algebraic geometry, homological algebra, and geometric topology. I am particularly interested in constructions and ideas associated to Goodwillie's homotopy functor calculus in a variety of settings.

Curriculum Vitae (CV): Extended Version

This was last updated on August 27, 2025


Book Project Preprints: In Preparation


Preprints: In Preparation


Preprints: Submitted for Publication


Publications


Research Visits


Education and Employment


Service to the Profession: Refereeing Work


Service to the Profession: Grant Reviewing Work


Service to the Profession: AMS MathSciNet (Mathematical Reviews)


Service to the Profession: Editor for

This is a relatively new fully refereed international mathematical journal accepting original high-quality research papers in all areas of mathematics; we particularly encourage innovative papers which point the way towards new applications for the development of pure and applied mathematics. ASETMJ is supported by the Georgian National Academy of Sciences and by the European Mathematical Society. It is electronically handled by Project Euclid of Cornell University Library and Duke University Press, and is published by the Tbilisi Centre for Mathematical Sciences (TCMS), a non-governmental and non-profit independent academic institution founded in 2008. TCMS also publishes another mathematical journal, Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures (JHRS), printed by Springer.

Editorial interests: homotopy theory, algebraic topology, structured ring spectra, functor calculus, algebras over operads

Service to the Profession: Editor for

Submission deadline for manuscripts: 31 January 2020. If a little wiggle room (past the submission deadline) is required, please work it out with the editor you are planning on working with.

Special issue editorial board: This special issue of TMJ is meant to be general enough for a wide range of papers in homotopy theory, broadly interpreted, in addition to papers that have some connection to spectra or structured ring spectra.


Service Awards (OSU)


Conferences Organized


Seminars Organized


Teaching Awards (OSU)


Teaching: Undergraduate and Graduate (OSU)


Teaching: Undergraduate (Purdue)


Teaching: Undergraduate (Western Ontario)


Teaching: Undergraduate and Graduate (EPFL)


Teaching: Undergraduate (Notre Dame)


Selected Invited Talks

Selected Informal Talks


Conference Participation


Prizes: (RPI)


Memberships


Languages


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