# Michelle L. Wachs

Michelle Lynn Wachs is an American mathematician who specializes in algebraic combinatorics and works as a professor of mathematics at the University of Miami.[1]

## Contributions

Wachs and her advisor Adriano Garsia are the namesakes of the Garsia–Wachs algorithm for optimal binary search trees, which they published in 1977.[2][A] She is also known for her research on shellings for simplicial complexes,[F] partially ordered sets,[C] and Coxeter groups,[B] and on random permutation statistics[E] and set partition statistics.[D]

## Education

Wachs earned her doctorate in 1977 from the University of California, San Diego, under the supervision of Adriano Garsia. Her dissertation was Discrete Variational Techniques in Finite Mathematics.[3]

## Recognition

In 2012 Wachs became one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society.[4] In 2013 she and her husband, mathematician Gregory Galloway (the chair of the mathematics department at Miami) were recognized as Simons Fellows.[5] A conference in her honor was held in January 2015 at the University of Miami.[6]

## Selected publications

 A. Garsia, Adriano M.; Wachs, Michelle L. (1977), "A new algorithm for minimum cost binary trees", SIAM Journal on Computing, 6 (4): 622–642, doi:10.1137/0206045, MR 0520738.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
 B. Björner, Anders; Wachs, Michelle (1982), "Bruhat order of Coxeter groups and shellability", Advances in Mathematics, 43 (1): 87–100, doi:10.1016/0001-8708(82)90029-9, MR 0644668
 C. Björner, Anders; Wachs, Michelle (1983), "On lexicographically shellable posets", Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 277 (1): 323–341, doi:10.2307/1999359, MR 0690055
 D. Wachs, Michelle; White, Dennis (1991), "${\displaystyle p,q}$-Stirling numbers and set partition statistics", Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A, 56 (1): 27–46, doi:10.1016/0097-3165(91)90020-H, MR 1082841
 E. Björner, Anders; Wachs, Michelle L. (1991), "Permutation statistics and linear extensions of posets", Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A, 58 (1): 85–114, doi:10.1016/0097-3165(91)90075-R, MR 1119703
 F. Björner, Anders; Wachs, Michelle L. (1996), "Shellable nonpure complexes and posets I", Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 348 (4): 1299–1327, doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-96-01534-6, MR 1333388; Part II, Trans. AMS 349 (10): 3945–3975, 1997, doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-97-01838-2, MR1401765

## References

1. Michelle Wachs, Univ. of Miami, retrieved 2015-01-02.
2. Knuth, Donald E. (1998), "Algorithm G (Garsia–Wachs algorithm for optimum binary trees)", The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 3: Sorting and Searching (2nd ed.), Addison–Wesley, pp. 451–453. See also History and bibliography, pp. 453–454.
3. List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2015-01-02.
4. Meister, Hannah (February 17, 2013), "Math professors recognized with national fellowship", The Miami Hurricane.
5. A Conference to Celebrate The Mathematics of Michelle Wachs, retrieved 2015-01-02;The Mathematics of Michelle Wachs, American Mathematical Society, retrieved 2015-01-02.