Tim Hsu
Hi. I'm an associate professor in the math department at San José State University.
Office: MacQuarrie Hall 419.
Phone: (408)924-5071, fax (408)924-5080.
E-mail: hsu@math.sjsu.edu.
Click the above picture to see a few more
pictures (including a Simpsonized version).
In Fall 2008, I'm teaching:
Other teaching things:
- How to minor or major
in math at SJSU.
- Handouts on writing math in
paragraph style and writing
proofs (newly revised and greatly expanded Spring 2007). The
first handout is for anyone learning to write up solutions to math
problems. The second is aimed at students who know a little bit of
linear algebra, but should be useful for anyone learning how to
write proofs, since it doesn't really rely on any knowledge of
linear algebra. (Someday, I want to turn the second handout into a
book; please contact me if
(a) you're a publisher, (b) you find the idea interesting, and (c)
you can figure out a way to charge less than $10 for it.)
- Handout on how to do well in
college math, especially for beginning students. In three words:
Do your homework!
- Looking for an advisor for your master's thesis at SJSU? Check
out this list of master's and senior theses
I've advised at SJSU, Pomona College, and the University of
Michigan.
- Home pages for some classes I've taught in the past:
- Math 108 (Introduction to proof),
Spring 2008
- Math 31 (Calculus II), Spring 2007
- Math 32 (Calculus III), Fall 2006
- Math 112 (Vector calculus), Spring 2006
- Independent study version of 128b
(Abstract algebra II), Spring 2006
- Math 128A (Abstract algebra I), Fall
2005
- Math 131A (Introduction to analysis),
Spring 2005
- Math 30 (Calculus I), Fall 2004
- Math 129B (Linear algebra II), Fall
2004
- Math 10 (Mathematics for general
education), Spring 2004
- Math 126 (Introduction to number
theory), Spring 2004
- Math 142 (Introduction to
combinatorics), Fall 2002
- Math 129A (Linear algebra I), Spring
2002
- My section of the AMP (Alliance for Minority
Participation) Summer Math
Intensive Academy, 2001.
- Pomona College, Math 145, Spring
2000-2001 (Hyperbolic geometry)
- Michigan Math Scholars Summer 1998:
Codes, ciphers, and secret messages
I'm also the Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics,
Computation, and Statistics (CAMCOS). Check out our web page and application
form.
Finally, I'm also the SJSU Math Colloquium chair. Click here for current colloquium info.
My research interests are in various areas of discrete mathematics,
especially group theory, which is the mathematical study of symmetry
through abstract algebra. I am also interested in other topics in
algebra and combinatorics. More specifically, my interests include:
- Geometric group theory, especially groups of non-positive
curvature;
- Combinatorics of partially ordered sets;
- Sporadic finite simple groups, and related phenomena, like
Moonshine and Moufang loops;
- Modular groups and braid groups of various types.
In the past, I've also been interested in lattices, knots, discrete
subgroups of Lie groups, automorphic forms and functions, and ideas
related to the inverse Galois problem (e.g., dessins d'enfants). I'm
becoming interested in quantum computation, which turns out to rely on
several of the above subjects (e.g., representations of finite
groups).
If you want more details, here are my academic vitals.
An old but still shameless self-promotion! My research monograph,
Quilts: Central extensions, braid actions, and finite groups,
is available as Springer
Lecture Notes in Mathematics vol. 1731 (listing on
amazon.com).
And here's some really old stuff.
Mailing address:
Tim Hsu
Department of Mathematics
San José State University
San José, CA 95192-0103
Last updated August 20, 2008