Assistant Lecturer in Mathematics at Atlantic Technological University
Former Lecturer in Mathematics at California Polytechnic State University | Teaching Fellow in Mathematics at Queen's University Belfast | Postdoc & Stipendiary Lecturer at Oxford
Brian Tyrrell-Nic Dhonncha
Keywords: (un)decidability in field arithmetic, number theory, automated-theorem-proving limitations, undergraduate mathematics education, gesture & embodied cognition, proof comprehension.
I have a very wide range of interests. My doctorate was in model theory, number theory, and algebraic geometry; particularly in decidability and definability questions that arise in field arithmetic with a geometric influence. I am interested in undergraduate mathematical proof conception, and am collaborating with Professor Vladislav Kokushkin at JMU on understanding the role of gesture by undergraduates during cognitively demanding high-level mathematics tasks. I have published several papers concerning the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics, and the tools educators can use in pusuit of effective, efficient, equitable and engaging education. During my master's degree I focused on category-theoretic research that can be applied to natural language processing and language translation.
I have completed the Advanced Teaching & Learning Programme at Oxford, making me Associate Fellow of the HEA. I have a DPhil (aka PhD) in Mathematics, and an MSc in Mathematics & Foundations of Computer Science, both from the University of Oxford. Before this I was awarded a BA (Mod) in Mathematics by Trinity College Dublin.
I am deeply interested in the theory & practise of effective, constructively aligned teaching, and am keen to make mathematics a more approachable and friendly subject for all. In 2023 I won an Individual Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Oxford Mathematical, Physical & Life Sciences Division.
I am proficient in LaTeX, Python, and C++.