Hays Whitlatch
Hays Whitlatch
Welcome to my webpage. I am an assistant professor at
Gonzaga University. Information such as office hours or contact information can be found here. Click here for my CV.
WHO AM I?
I received my PhD from the University of South Carolina in 2019.
I also have a masters degree from Middle Tennessee State University and a bachelors from the University of Iowa. I also attended Muscatine Community College for two years. I am interested in doing research with students and non-students in Discrete Mathematics at large (including graph theory, combinatorics, linear algebra, set theory, theoretical computer science, probability, and number theory).
My thesis work lies at the intersection of linear algebra, graph theory and discrete mathematical biology - my thesis advisor is Joshua Cooper, PhD <- a nice person. There are also other nice people at South Carolina - two people I worked closely with and who were nice enough to write me letters of recommendation are Eva Czabarka, PhD, and Sean Yee, PhD. While at MTSU I was advised and got to do research with with Xiaoya Zha, PhD (also a very nice person).
If I don't answer your email and it's a weekend, I am probably hiking.
TEACHING
I enjoy teaching classes of all levels. I believe that all students can excel at mathematics regardless of their current level - my first college course in mathematics was College Algebra (the equivalent of Math 100 at GU). This philosophy leads to the tendency to continually challenge students. A student may give me a perfectly correct answer (and get an A on the assignment) but I will find a way to make it more difficult just to see if the student can still do it and to help help them discover even more about math and its beauties. I also believe in Gonzaga's Mission to develop the whole person. I truly care about my students' well-being in and out of the classroom. Thus, I strive to work towards a balance of challenging and supporting my students.
This is not one my of my students (but a picture of a very photogenic marmot keeping a watchful eye on Kendall Yards):
STUDENT RESEARCH
Here are some awesome people whom I have worked with while at Gonzaga:
- Katharine Shultis, PhD (University of Gonzaga): Power Domination Games, Kneser Total Roman Domination, Voting Theory and Graphs, Finite Field Linear Algebra, Combinatorial Games, Recursive Partitions.
- Rob Ray, PhD (University of Gonzaga): Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- Joshua Cooper, PhD (University of South Carolina): Finite-Field Positive Definite.
- Erin Hanna, M.S.: Finite-Field Positive Definite.
- Ann Clifton, M.S.: Equitable Partitions of Graphs.
- Zinnia Gibson: Mathematics of DNA Testing.
- Michele Ortiz: Power Domination Games.
- Sviatlana Kniahnitskaya: Power Domination Games, Kneser Total Roman Domination, Voting Theory and Graphs, Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- Olivia C. Ramirez: Power Domination Games.
- A. Mallott: Kneser Total Roman Domination.
- Benjamin Nored: Kneser Total Roman Domination, Voting Theory and Graphs, Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- Caeli Griffin: Kneser Total Roman Domination, Chemical Graph Theory.
- Grace Dojan: Voting Theory and Graphs, Finite Field Linear Algebra, Kneser Total Roman Domination.
- Kathryn Ikard: Voting Theory and Graphs, Finite Field Linear Algebra, Kneser Total Roman Domination.
- Cole Stainsby: Finite Field Linear Algebra, Kneser Total Roman Domination.
- Alec Harris: Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- John Q.: Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- Naomi Halbersleben: Finite Field Linear Algebra.
- Belle Asplund-Wain: Kneser Total Roman Domination.
- Olivia M. Ramirez: Combinatorial Genomics.
- Zoe Erpelding: Combinatorial Games.
- Valon Haslem: Combinatorial Games.
- Diana Hoppe: Combinatorial Games, Hankel & Toeplitz Matrices.
- Drew Swanson Hollinger: Recursive Partitions, Hankel & Toeplitz Matrices.
- Jessica Childress: Hankel & Toeplitz Matrices.
- Hua Wang, PhD (University of Southern Georgia): Security in Trees.
- Sarah Selkirk, PhD (Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt): Security in Trees.
- Valisoa Razanajatovo Misanantenaina Ep Rakotonarivo, PhD (University of Pretoria): Security in Trees.
Interested in student research? Send me an email!
