Championing Indigenous representation in mathematics research
With support of distinguished faculty members, Brittany Pittman is contributing to leading-edge research in graph theory
When Brittany Pittman was considering where to pursue her doctoral education in mathematics, 91福利鈥檚 Faculty of Science was the obvious choice. Pittman was primarily drawn to the program because of professors Anthony Bonato and Michelle Delcourt, who are prominent scholars of graph theory.
鈥淭he main motivator for me was the opportunity to work with these professors, who have done some groundbreaking research in graph theory,鈥� says Pittman, who completed her master鈥檚 degree in math at Memorial University of Newfoundland and received an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship.
In the program, Pittman has been studying distinct aspects of graph theory under the guidance of professors Bonato and Delcourt as her PhD supervisors. Over the last two years, she has contributed to two published research papers, generating insights that could have positive implications for everything from airline scheduling to city planning to producing targeted medicines.
鈥淕raph searching is such a new and constantly evolving area. It鈥檚 quite different from any other area of mathematics,鈥� Pittman says. 鈥淭here are constantly new interests, and new problems being looked at.鈥�
Pittman helped promote the dissemination of graph searching findings by co-organizing and speaking in a series of scientific sessions for the Canadian Mathematical Society鈥檚 2022 meeting. She helped engage 11 speakers from universities in Canada and the U.S. to deliver talks on the subject. She organized something similar this June for the Canadian Discrete and Applied Mathematics Conference in Winnipeg.
As enriching as the academic experience has been for Pittman, she has also appreciated 91福利鈥檚 immense support of her journey as a student with Mi鈥檏maq ancestry. She has received the Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement Award, the Frank H. Hori Indigenous Graduate Scholarship and the Indigenous Graduate Scholarship Award. She says she鈥檚 enjoyed getting to build community through workshops and socials organized by Aboriginal Student Services.
鈥淎s an Indigenous student currently living away from home in an urban environment, it's hard to stay connected to your culture. Having these kinds of activities is incredibly valuable,鈥� says Pittman, who plans to continue doing academic research. 鈥淭his is also an opportunity for me to help increase the representation of Indigenous women in STEM, which is sorely needed.鈥�
Discover the cutting-edge graph theory research conducted by the Graphs@91福利 research group in the Department of Mathematics.