Graduate Students

I regularly advise graduate students at the University of Oklahoma. The topics they study vary from student to student. You can contact either them or me if you would like to know more about what they are working on.

  • Erin Hausmann (2018 - present)
  • Ryan Reynolds (2018 - present)
  • Joseph Randich (2018 - 2022)
    For his PhD thesis, Joey studied polynomial superfunctor categories corresponding to the generalized Schur algebras of Eveseev, Kleschev, Muth, and others. He showed they are equivalent to the categories of representations for these (super)algebras. He also showed a connection to the generalized webs I study with Davidson, Muth, and Zhu. Joey is now at the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific.
  • Jieru Zhu (2014 - 2018)
    For her PhD thesis Jieru introduced the two-boundary Hecke-Clifford superalgebra and described its calibrated representations. This superalgebra appears as the Schur-Weyl dual to a natural class of representations for the Lie superalgebra of type Q. Jieru is now at Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. You can see Jieru's mathematical genealogy here.
  • Gordon Brown (2014 - 2017)
    For his PhD thesis Gordon introduced the combinatorial category of webs of type Q. His main results use webs to describe the monoidal category of symmetric powers of the natural module for the Lie superalgebra of type Q and the category of permutation modules for the Sergeev algebras. Gordon is now at Lockheed-Martin.
  • Benjiman Tharp (2013 - 2017)
    For his PhD thesis Ben described the representation theory of the marked Brauer algebra. His main results describe the structure of the standard modules. Ben now works for Ingersoll Rand. You can see Ben's mathematical genealogy here.
  • Houssein El Turkey (2010 - 2014)
    For his PhD thesis Houssein computed the complexity of the simple and standard modules for the type C and exceptional classical Lie superalgebras. His results provided strong support for a conjectural relation to the geometry of support varieties first observed in type A by Boe, Nakano, and myself. Houssein is now a tenure track assistant professor at the University of New Haven. You can see Houssein's mathematical genealogy here.
  • Irfan Bagci (2006 - 2009)
    For his PhD thesis Irfan computed cohomology and support varieties for Cartan type Lie superalgebras. Irfan is now an associate professor at the University of North Georgia. Dan Nakano was Irfan's primary advisor at the University of Georgia and I served as his co-advisor.

Postdoctoral Fellows

The Department of Mathematics at OU regularly has six to nine postdoctoral fellows. If you are interested in postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at OU, please feel free to contact me. I regularly mentor postdocs and other young mathematicians on research, professional development, and other issues. The OU postdocs I've worked mostly closely with are:

  • Lauren Grimley (2023 - 2026)
    Lauren earned her PhD at Texas A&M of Oregon with Sarah Witherspoon. She is currently at the University of Oklahoma.
  • Nick Davidson (2016 - 2019)
    Nick earned his PhD at the University of Oregon with Jon Brundan. He is currently an assistant professor at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.
  • Lei Zhao (2010 - 2012)
    Lei earned his PhD at the University of Virginia with Weiqiang Wang. He then came to OU as a postdoctoral fellow with me as his mentor. He then successfully transitioned to a career in finance in Beijing, China.
  • Steven Spallone (2008 - 2011)
    Steven earned his PhD at the University of Chicago with Robert Kottwitz. He next came to OU as a postdoctoral fellow and is now a professor at IISER Pune in Pune, India.