Michael Bishop, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mathematics
California State University, Fresno
Peters Business Building Office 355
Michael Bishop, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mathematics
California State University, Fresno
Peters Business Building Office 355
Research: My research studies the mathematics underlying quantum mechanics. These include random Schrodinger operators, systems of interacting quantum particles in disordered systems, and quantum spin systems. For the most part, I study the behavior of these systems at low energies and low temperatures where quantum effects are most pronounced in physical experiments.
Brief Bio: I grew up in the suburbs of Orange County, California wherein I contributed to an agricultural stronghold getting eaten away by a suburban plague. Seeking refuge in the characterful college town of Davis, I completed a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics at the University of California, Davis. After college, I ventured to China and worked at SIAS University as a lecturer in History, Film, Mathematics, and Oral English for two years. I speak enough Chinese to get everybody to say, "Wow, you speak Chinese!" without testing my truely poor command of the language . I began a proper career in mathematics at the University of Arizona under the supervision of Professor Jan Wehr where I studied various energy functionals with random potentials related to quantum mechanics and completed my PhD in the spring of 2013 after six years of toil. As a sign that I may be taking laps in life, I returned to UC Davis, this time as a Krener Assistant Professor. I worked with Professor Bruno Nachtergaele on spectral gaps of quantum spin systems on higher dimensional lattices, making the usual math-physics rounds that many have tread before. Fresno State decided to break the cycle and hired me on as faculty where I do my best to bring math to the masses. I currently work on modified operators in quantum mechanics with Professor Douglas Singleton and the Unruh effect with Professor Gerardo Munoz. On a personal note, I follow Christ: this is both deeply relevant and remarkably irrelevant to my profession.