Catherine Huafei Yan ( zh, 颜华菲) is a professor of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

interested in

algebraic combinatorics Algebraic combinatorics is an area of mathematics that employs methods of abstract algebra, notably group theory and representation theory, in various combinatorial contexts and, conversely, applies combinatorial techniques to problems in algeb ...

Education and career

Yan earned a bachelor's degree from

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

in 1993. She was a student of

Gian-Carlo Rota Gian-Carlo Rota (April 27, 1932 – April 18, 1999) was an Italian-American mathematician and philosopher. He spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked in combinatorics, functional analysis, pro ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where she earned her Ph.D. in 1997 with a dissertation on ''The Theory of Commuting Boolean Algebras''. After working for two years as a Courant Instructor at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, she joined Texas A&M in 1999, with a three-year hiatus as Chern Professor at the Center of Combinatorics,

Nankai University Nankai University (NKU or Nankai; ) is a national public research university located in Tianjin, China. It is a prestigious Chinese state Class A Double First Class University approved by the central government of China, and a member of the fo ...

, from 2005 to 2008.

Book

With her advisor and Joseph Kung, she is an author of '' Combinatorics: The Rota Way'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009). The book provides an exposition of the areas of combinatorics of interest to Rota, unified through an algebraic framework, and lists many open research problems in this area.

Recognition

Yan won a

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

in 2001. She was elected to the 2018 class of

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

"for contributions to

combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many appl ...

and

discrete geometry Discrete geometry and combinatorial geometry are branches of geometry that study combinatorial properties and constructive methods of discrete geometric objects. Most questions in discrete geometry involve finite or discrete sets of basic geome ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Catherine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American mathematicians Chinese women mathematicians Combinatorialists International Mathematical Olympiad participants High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China alumni Peking University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni New York University faculty Texas A&M University faculty Nankai University faculty Sloan Research Fellows Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Place of birth missing (living people) Nationality missing 21st-century women mathematicians