He is a Professor of Mathematics at
Northeastern University. He did his undergraduate studies at
Boston College. He received his Ph.D. from
Brandeis University in 1975 under the direction of
Edgar Henry Brown Jr. and Harold Levine. In 1975 he became an AMS Centennial Fellow at MIT and a year later he joined the Brown University faculty as Tamarkind instructor. In 1979 Gaffney became professor at Northeastern University where he has remained ever since. He has served as department chair, graduate director, chair of the undergraduate curriculum committee, and faculty senator. ==Selected publications==