Hi. I'm a professor in the Department of Mathematics and
Statistics at San José State
Office: MacQuarrie Hall 419.
Phone: (408)924-5071, fax (408)924-5080.
Office hours: MW9:30-10:30, MW1:30-2:30. Click here for full Fall 2014
Click on the picture above to see a few more
pictures (including a Simpsonized version).
I'm the advisor of many of our students getting BA's in Math (the
standard option), so if you need advice on your undergraduate degree,
please contact me, and I can at
least put you in touch with someone who can help.
for more information on SJSU math advising, or more specifically,
undergraduate math majors at SJSU.
In Fall 2014, I'm teaching:
Other teaching things:
- How to minor or major
in math at SJSU, the very short version.
- Handouts on writing math in
paragraph style and writing
proofs (revised August 2008). The first handout is for anyone
learning to write up solutions to math problems in complete
sentences. The second is aimed at students who know a little bit of
linear algebra, but should be useful for anyone learning how to
write proofs, since it doesn't really rely on any knowledge of
linear algebra. (Someday, I want to turn the second handout into a
book; please contact me if
(a) you're a publisher, (b) you find the idea interesting, and (c)
you can figure out a way to charge less than $10 for it.)
- A related handout (taken from the proof notes) about how to give a lecture on
- Handout on how to do well
in college math, especially for beginning students. In three
words: Do your homework!
- Looking for an advisor for your master's thesis at SJSU? Check
out this list of master's and senior theses
I've advised at SJSU, Pomona College, and the University of
- Home pages for some classes I've taught in the past:
- Math 108, Spring 2014.
- Math 131b (Analysis II: Hilbert spaces
and applications), Fall 2013.
- Math 19 (Precalculus), Spring 2013.
- Math 131a (Introduction to
analysis), Spring 2013.
- Math 129B (Linear algebra II),
- Math 128B (Abstract algebra II),
- Math 128A (Abstract algebra I), Fall
- Math 31 (Calculus II), Spring 2010.
- Math 126 (Introduction to number
theory), Fall 2009.
- Math 131a (Introduction to
analysis), Fall 2008.
- Math 32 (Calculus III), Fall 2006
- Math 112 (Vector calculus), Spring
- Math 30 (Calculus I), Fall 2004
- Math 10 (Mathematics for general
education), Spring 2004
- Math 142 (Introduction to
combinatorics), Fall 2002
- Math 129A (Linear algebra I), Spring
- My section of the AMP (Alliance for Minority
Participation) Summer Math
Intensive Academy, 2001.
- Pomona College, Math 145, Spring
2000-2001 (Hyperbolic geometry)
- Michigan Math Scholars Summer 1998:
Codes, ciphers, and secret messages
I'm also the SJSU Math Colloquium chair. Click here for current colloquium info.
If you're looking for information about the Center for Applied
Mathematics, Computation, and Statistics (CAMCOS), I have
completed my term as the Director of CAMCOS. Please contact the
current director, Slobodan
Simic, for more about CAMCOS.
My research interests are in various areas of discrete mathematics,
especially group theory, which is the mathematical study of symmetry
through abstract algebra. I am also interested in other topics in
algebra and combinatorics. More specifically, my interests include:
In the past, I've also been interested in lattices, knots, discrete
subgroups of Lie groups, automorphic forms and functions, ideas
related to the inverse Galois problem (e.g., dessins d'enfants) and
- Geometric group theory, especially groups of non-positive
- Combinatorics of partially ordered sets (extremal set theory);
- l2 invariants, like homology and cohomology,
which I gather falls under the buzzword of noncommutative geometry;
- Combinatorial game theory;
- Sporadic finite simple groups, and related phenomena, like
Moonshine and Moufang loops; and
- Modular groups and braid groups of various types.
If you want more details, here are my academic vitals.
A very old but still shameless self-promotion! My research monograph,
Quilts: Central extensions, braid actions, and finite groups,
is available as Springer
Lecture Notes in Mathematics vol. 1731 (listing on
amazon.com, though now out of print).
Department of Mathematics
San José State University
San José, CA 95192-0103
Last updated Aug 17, 2014