(she/her)
I am a fifth-year PhD candidate in Mathematics at the University of Washington, advised by Isabella Novik. My research is in topological combinatorics and discrete geometry, with connections to commutative algebra, graph theory, and matroid theory.
I am currently on the academic job market (Fall 2025).
My curriculum vitae. I can be reached by email at yyang1@uw.edu.
My current career goals are:
To explore and work on open problems in combinatorics, particularly those involving the interplay between the combinatorial and topological properties of triangulated manifolds and their connections to other areas of mathematics.
To further develop my teaching and mentoring skills to inspire more students, especially those from underrepresented groups in the mathematical community, to pursue their interest in mathematics.
To apply my mathematical knowledge, abstract and creative thinking, and research experience to addressing real-world problems.
My non-mathematical interests are the visual arts, knitting, hiking, traveling, cooking, reading, and advocating for sustainability and slow fashion.
This Fall 2025, I am participating in the two-month Intensive Research Programme on Combinatorial Geometries and Geometric Combinatorics at CRM Barcelona.
University of Washington Combinatorics Seminar, for which I have been a co-organizer for 2024 - 2025.
Spring Central AMS Sectional Meeting, AMS Special Session on Algebraic, Geometric, and Topological Combinatorics, March 29 - 30, 2025, University of Kansas
Cascade Lectures in Combinatorics (CALICO), March 8, 2025, University of Washington
Combinatorics Seminar, February 10, 2025, University of Miami
Joint Mathematics Meetings, AMS Special Session on Geometric and Topological Combinatorics, January 8 - 11, 2025, Seattle Convention Center
Combinatorics and Geometry of Moduli Spaces of Curves (COMOC), July 28 - August 2, 2024, Banff International Research Station
Graduate Research Workshop in Combinatorics (GRWC), May 19 - 31, 2024, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Santander Workshop on Geometric and Algebraic Combinatorics, January 15-19, 2024, Universidad de Cantabria
Cascade Lectures in Combinatorics (CALICO), April 22, 2023, Reed College
MSRI Summer Graduate School: Topological Methods for the Discrete Mathematician, July 25 - August 5, 2022, St. Mary's College
Symmetries in Graphs, Maps, and Polytopes Workshop (SIGMAP), July 10 - 16, 2022, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Combinatorial, Computational, and Applied Algebraic Geometry (CCAAGS), June 27 - July 1, 2022, University of Washington
Building Relationships for an Inclusive and Diverse Group of Emerging Students (BRIDGES), June 7 - 10, 2022, University of Utah
Western Algebraic Geometry Symposium (WAGS), April 22 - 24, 2022, Colorado State University
Beach of Mathematics III, 2020. Ink on Paper.
This work is from my series of drawings Beach of Mathematics. The bubbles-and-small-figures pattern was inspired by the picture of a simply-connected covering space of the union of a sphere and a circle intersecting it in two points. For the rest of this series, see here.
This is me.