YAN ZHUANG
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Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035
Office: Chambers 3040
Phone: 704-894-2317
E-Mail: yazhuang@davidson.edu
Pronouns: he / him
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. Prior to my appointment at Davidson, I received my Ph.D. in mathematics from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
My research interests lie in the areas of enumerative combinatorics and algebraic combinatorics. Most of my work is in permutation enumeration and its connections to (quasi)symmetric function theory and combinatorial Hopf algebras. I seek to answer questions about counting permutations with certain nice properties or with respect to parameters called permutation statistics, and I develop general frameworks for investigating these kinds of questions, often drawing upon the rich interplay between combinatorics and abstract algebra.
Working with students is my greatest joy at Davidson. My style of teaching empowers students to become active participants in their own learning, and as an educator, I aim to instill self-confidence in my students, to foster a sense of belonging in my classroom, and to cultivate an appreciation for the beauty and power of mathematical abstraction. I supervise undergraduate research projects in combinatorics and I look forward to introducing future students to the excitement of mathematical discovery.
I am the Principal Investigator of NSF grant DMS-2316181 (Sept. 2023–Aug. 2025). This grant provides funding for DREAM (Discovering Research and Expanding Access to Mathematics), a new summer program for Davidson students integrating mathematics research, professional development, and educational outreach. DREAM ran in Summer 2024 and will run again in Summer 2025.
When I am not exploring the mathematical wilderness or sharing my love for mathematics with my students, I like to play and listen to music, play board games, exercise, and try new food. I enjoy hearing people talk about things that they are passionate about and learning from the lived experiences of those from different backgrounds.
Recent News:
- 03/25: I will be giving an invited talk at the Howard University Mathematics Colloquium.
- 03/25: I will be giving an invited talk at the Special Session on Enumerative and Dynamical Combinatorics of the AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting.
- 10/24: A preprint of my paper “Desarrangements revisited: statistics and pattern avoidance” appeared on the arXiv.
- 09/24: My paper “Zig-zag Eulerian polynomials” was accepted for publication in the European Journal of Combinatorics.
- 09/24: My paper “Statistics on clusters and r-Stirling permutations” was published in the Journal of Combinatorics.
- 08/24: A preprint of my paper “Counting pattern-avoiding permutations by big descents” appeared on the arXiv.
- 08/24: My paper “Two-sided permutation statistics via symmetric functions” was accepted for publication in the Forum of Mathematics, Sigma.
- 07/24: I received continuous tenure at Davidson College and was promoted to Associate Professor.
- 05/24: My paper “On kernels of descent statistics” was published in the Electronic Journal of Combinatorics.
- 05/24: My paper “Cyclic shuffle-compatibility via cyclic shuffle algebras” was published in the Annals of Combinatorics.
- 04/24: A preprint of my paper “BFS versus DFS for random targets in ordered trees” appeared on the arXiv.
- 04/24: I gave an invited talk at the Special Session on Algebraic and Enumerative Combinatorics of the AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting.
- 03/24: My paper “On the rix statistic and valley-hopping” was published in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science.
- 02/24: I gave an invited talk at the Conference on Enumerative and Algebraic Combinatorics (in celebration of Bruce Sagan’s 70th birthday and retirement).
- 01/24: My paper “A subfamily of skew Dyck paths related to k-ary trees” was published in the Journal of Integer Sequences.
