Algebra is one of fundamental disciplines of mathematics and an algebraic way of thinking is pervasive in much of mathematics. This is true in part because whenever there is structure, there is algebra. The algebraization of mathematics first took place at the beginning of this century in response to a foundational crisis in mathematics whose effects are still being felt. As befits a field of this size, the research in algebra currently being pursued at Texas A&M is both wide and varied. Many of the faculty listed below are not purely algebraists, but study algebra and its interaction with other parts of mathematics. Some of the areas under active investigation at A&M include: number theory (Itshak Borosh and Doug Hensley), algebraic geometry and algebraic topology (Paulo Lima-Filho), algebraic K-theory and cyclic homology (Sue Geller), group representations and special functions (Robert Gustafson), matrix theory (Joe Hartfiel), Noetherian rings and Lie superalgebras (Ed Letzter), nearrings (Carl Maxson and Kirby Smith), geometric group theory (Jon McCammond), and computational algebraic geometry (J. Maurice Rojas, Hal Schenck, Peter Stiller, and Rekha Thomas),
Many of the algebraists listed above attend either the Algebra-Combinatorics Seminar and / or the Geometry-Analysis-Topology Seminar (which includes algebraic topology and algebraic geometry).