Katie Johnson

About Katie

I am a fifth year graduate student in mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My field of study is combinatorics, and I am working under the direction of Jamie Radcliffe. In particular, I am interested in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics, poset theory, entropy, and graph theory.

My non-math hobbies include dancing, traveling, baking, reading, and photography.

Contact Information					Job Materials
Office:	Avery Hall 313				Curriculum Vitae
Phone:	(402) 472 - 8242				Research Statement
Email:					Teaching Statement
The best way to contact me is by email.

Background

Education

• Ph.D. Mathematics, expected May 2012
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Thesis Title: "The Weak Discrepancy and Linear Extension Diameter of Grids and Other Posets"
  • Thesis Advisor: Jamie Radcliffe
• M.S. Mathematics, May 2009
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• B.S. Mathematics, May 2007
• College of William and Mary
• Honors Thesis Title: "Counting Hessenberg Matrices"
• Honors Thesis Advisor: Charles R. Johnson

Awards and Fellowships

• Mentoring through Critical Transition Points Traineeship, 2011
• SIAM Math Matters Contest, third place: The math behind... Music Restoration
• Othmer Fellowship, 2007-2010
• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate and Young Scholar, 2002-2007

Membership in Professional Societies

• American Mathematics Society
• Association for Women in Mathematics
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Teaching

Instructor of Record

• Math 101 - College Algebra
• Math 203 - Contemporary Math
• Math 300 - Math Matters (elementary education)
• Math 301 - Geometry Matters (elementary education)

Teaching Assistant

• Analysis TA for IMMERSE, Summer 2011
• TA for NebraskaMATH: Math 896 - Algebra for Algebra Teachers, Summer 2010
• Recitation Section Leader, Math 106 - Calculus I, 2007-2008
• TA for the Summer Program for Gifted and High Ability Students at USF, Summer 2003
• Math Resource Center and Math Tutor, 2003-2010

Grader

• Math 850 - Discrete Math I
• Calculus and Linear Algebra at the College of William and Mary
• Differential Equations at the University of South Florida

Research

Research Interests

• Extremal and Probabilistic Combinatorics, Partially Ordered Sets, Entropy, Graph Theory

Publications

• The Linear Extension Diameter of Grids, preprint
• Weak Discrepancy of Grids and Other Lattices, in preparation
• A Note on the Existence of Universal Cycles for Trees, in preparation

Research Programs and Summer Schools

• Memphis-Budapest Summer School in Combinatorics, Alfréd Rényi Institue, Budapest, 7-20 August 2011
• IMMERSE participant, Summer 2007
• Director's Summer Program, Summer 2006
• Research Experience for Undergraduates at Clemson University, Summer 2005
• Research Academy, The Clay Math Institute, March 2003

Invited Talks

• AMS Spring Southeastern Section Meeting Special Session on Combinatorics: Algebraic and Geometric, University of South Florida, The Linear Extension Diameter of Grids, 2012
• Joint Mathematics Meetings AMS Session on Combinatorics and Graph Theory, Weak Discrepancy of Grids, 2012
• University of Kansas Algebra and Combinatorics Seminar, The Linear Extension Diameter of Grids, 2011
• University of Colorado-Denver Discrete Math Seminar, The Linear Extension Diameter of Grids, 2011
• National Security Education Consortium Crypto Workshop Lecturer, 2011
• Guest lecturer for a Linear Algebra class at Creighton University, Linear Algebra and Graph Theory, 2011
• All Girls, All Math Lecturer, Financial Mathematics, 2010
• Joint Mathematics Meetings AMS-MAA-SIAM Special Session on Research in Mathematics by Undergraduates and the MAA Undergraduate Poster Session, Counting Lower Hessenberg Matrices, 2007
• Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, Counting Lower Hessenberg Matrices, 2007
• James Madison University Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Conference, On the Counting of Lower Hessenberg Matrices, 2005

Seminar Talks at UNL

Discrete Math Seminar

• The Technique of "Focusing" in Ramsey Theory, 2011
• The Magic of Universal Cycles, 2011 - slides
• The Linear Algebra Method, 2011
• Counting Lower Hessenberg Matrices, 2009 - slides

Graduate Student Seminar

• A Few Interesting Answers to Some Hard Questions, 2010 - slides, "Explaining Math Research" handout
• Erdős' Proof of Bertrand's Postulate, 2009

Conferences

• Joint Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, January 2011
• AMS Sectional Meeting, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, October 2011
• AMS Sectional Meeting, University of Notre Dame, November 2010
• Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, UNL, February 2010
Invited Graduate Student
• Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Francisco, January 2010
Minicourse: Fibonacci and Catalan Numbers
• AMS Sectional Meeting, University of Illinois, March 2009
• Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington D.C., January 2009
• Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, January 2008
• Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, UNL, February 2007
• Joint Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, January 2007
• Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Conference, James Madison University, October 2005
• Stanfest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2004

Seminars regularly attended

• Discrete Math Seminar, 2007-2011
• Graduate Student Seminar, 2008-2011
• Academic Job Search Seminar, 2011
• Professional Development Seminar, 2011
• Teaching Seminar, 2008

Service

Organizational Experience

• Discrete Math Seminar, Fall and Spring 2011
• AMS Fall Central Section Meeting, Poster Session Committee, 2011
• Math Department Graduate Student Orientation, Summer 2009 and 2010

Invited Panelist

• Creighton University Pi Day, Experiences in Graduate School, 2011
• IMMERSE, Succeeding in Graduate School, 2011
• Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, Invited Graduate Student, 2010
• Choosing a Mathematics Graduate Program
• Summer Research Opportunities
• Math Literature Seminar, How to read papers and how to give good presentations, 2009 and 2010
• Math Education Seminar, Math GTA's experiences teaching teachers, 2010

Other

• Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics, Registration, 2011
• Annual Math Day at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Math Bowl Moderator, Math Bowl Timer, Setup, 2007-2011

Links

Other pages I maintain

• UNL's Discrete Math Seminar
• A Collection of Mathematical Current Events
• Resources for IMMERSE 2011

Math sites

• The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics
• Mathematical Pi, a tribute
• The Story of π, another great video for Pi Day
• Random.org, for when you just can't decide...
• Doug West's List of Open Problems
• AMS Graduate Student Blog
• Detexify
• Math in the Movies
• Sing about Science and Math
• BibTeX lookup, use the BibTeX part of MathSciNet without logging in
• MathTube
• Mathematikum, an awesome math museum in Giessen, Germany

Other cool sites

• WolframAlpha, useful for non-math purposes too, like checking the weather!
• SuperCook, search for recipes by ingredients and more
• Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade retailer
• Earth Album, a slicker google maps & flickr mash-up
• TypeRacer, become a faster typer