Michael Starbird
Mathematics professor and author
Michael Starbird is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin. He co-wrote The Five Elements of Effective Thinking with Edward Burger.
1 summary 20 min of listening
American Born 1948
About Michael Starbird
Michael Starbird teaches mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he joined the faculty in 1974. His specialty is topology. He studied at Pomona College and earned his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. From 1989 to 1997 he was an associate dean for Natural Sciences. His teaching has earned over a dozen awards, among them the 2007 national teaching award from the Mathematical Association of America. He has also made Great Courses video lessons for The Teaching Company on calculus, probability, statistics, geometry and the joy of thinking. He directs the university's Inquiry Based Learning Project. Starbird co-authored the textbook The Heart of Mathematics: An invitation to effective thinking. With Edward Burger he wrote The Five Elements of Effective Thinking, a book for general readers.