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Last updated: 16 March 2013
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I am a mathematician who enjoys working with ideas from computer science.
I am currently a QEII Research Fellow in the
School of
Mathematics and Physics at the University
of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
I have previously worked in the mathematics departments at RMIT University, the University of Melbourne and Oklahoma State University, as well as a three-year stint in the finance industry.
I am a great fan of enrichment programmes for high school students, and I have a long involvement with the Informatics Olympiad, the Mathematics Olympiad and the National Mathematics Summer School. See below for details.
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Research, publications and grants
My main research interest is geometry and topology, with a focus
on spaces in three and four dimensions. I typically approach this field
from the perspective of combinatorics, algorithms and computation.
Other interests include algorithm design, cryptography and information security, combinatorics, and the development of programming competitions.
I publish in all of the areas listed above. See my separate list of publications for details.
I am currently working on two ARC Discovery Projects (one including a QEII Fellowship), and I have also worked on a variety of smaller locally-funded projects. See my separate list of grants for details.
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PhD and honours supervision
If you are interested in talking about honours projects, summer research projects or possible areas for a PhD, send me an email and I'll be happy to meet up for a chat.
Research topics would draw on the fields of geometry, topology, combinatorics, algorithmics and/or operations research, and would typically involve the interplay between several of these areas. Some examples:
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Teaching at UQ
I am teaching a 7-lecture module on game theory in Semester 2, 2012. All of my lecture notes and assignments are posted on the MATH 3500 Blackboard site.
My contact hours are Wednesday 2–3 and Friday 2–3.
Semester 2, 2011: MATH 3500 (two-week module on game theory)
Semester 1, 2011: MATH 3302 (half-semester on cryptography)
Semester 2, 2010: MATH 3500 (two-week module on game theory)
Semester 2, 2009: MATH 1052 (half-semester on differential equations)
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Informatics and mathematics olympiads
The International Olympiad
in Informatics (IOI) is the premier competition
worldwide for high school students in computer programming and algorithm
design, with teams from 80–90 countries competing each year.
I have been involved in the Australian programme since its inception in 1998, acting as Director of Training (1999–2008), Team Leader (2001–2008) and Deputy Leader (1999–2000). I am currently a member of the International Scientific Committee (2009–2011), which oversees the scientific content and development of the IOI.
We have recently kicked off the Queensland Informatics & Programming club (QIP), a Brisbane-based forerunner to the national Informatics Olympiad programme. This is a great place for interested high school students to meet like-minded people, do some programming and learn about algorithms. See the QIP site for details!
In recent news, IOI 2013 was awarded to Australia! Under the proposal, the event will be hosted at the University of Queensland in partnership with the Australian Mathematics Trust.
Before my time with the IOI, I was involved with the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Programme. I also continue to teach courses in surfaces and knot theory at the National Mathematics Summer School.
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Software
I am a great believer in open-source software, and I have spent much
time working with open-source projects over the years. Some projects
I am currently involved in:
If you are looking for specific software related to a paper of mine, try my code page.
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Contact details
| Phone, email and location | Postal address |
|---|---|
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+61-7-3365 1164 bab at maths.uq.edu.au Building 67, room 547 |
School of Mathematics and Physics The University of Queensland Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia |