Stephanie van Willigenburg

Professor of Mathematics University of British Columbia

  • Vancouver BC

Researcher, mentor, educator. Bringing balance to the equation.

Contact

Biography

Steph van Willigenburg obtained her BSc Hons (1994) and PhD (1998) from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. From there she did postdoctoral fellowships at York University and Cornell University, before taking up an Assistant Professorship at the University of British Columbia, Canada in 2002. Rising through the ranks she is now Professor of Mathematics there. Her awards for research include the Krieger-Nelson Prize, fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and she has won a Killam Award for her teaching. She is also one of the co-founders and organizers of the Algebraic Combinatorixx workshops at the Banff International Research Station to foster mentoring, collaborations and networking for women in algebraic combinatorics and related areas.

Industry Expertise

Research
Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Mathematics
Combinatorics
Representation Theory
Women in STEM
Women in Mathematics

Accomplishments

2023 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society

International Award for contributions to algebraic combinatorics, mentorship and exposition, and inclusive community building.

2017 Krieger-Nelson Prize

National prize for exceptional research by a female mathematician.

2013 Renewed Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

International award for experienced researchers allowing you to carry out short-term research in Germany.

Show All +

Education

University of St Andrews

PhD

Mathematics

1998

University of St Andrews

BSc

Mathematics

1994

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

My STEM Job

Canada Science and Technology Museum  tv

Part of a video series.

View More

Event Appearances

Not wired that way

2020 UBC Young Women for STEM  UBC, Vancouver

An introduction to quasisymmetric Schur functions.

2016 Plenary speaker, AMS Spring Western Sectional Meeting.  Salt Lake City

A tour of quasisymmetric Schur functions.

2015 Plenary speaker, FPSAC 2015.  Daejeon, South Korea

Articles

An Introduction to Quasisymmetric Schur Functions

Springer

An Introduction to Quasisymmetric Schur Functions is aimed at researchers and graduate students in algebraic combinatorics. The goal of this monograph is twofold. The first goal is to provide a reference text for the basic theory of Hopf algebras, in particular the Hopf algebras of symmetric, quasisymmetric and noncommutative symmetric functions and connections between them. The second goal is to give a survey of results with respect to an exciting new basis of the Hopf algebra of quasisymmetric functions, whose combinatorics is analogous to that of the renowned Schur functions.

View more

Powered by