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.
In Summers 2024 and 2025, I led DREAM (Discovering Research and Expanding Access to Mathematics), a summer program for Davidson students integrating mathematics research, professional development, and educational outreach. DREAM was supported by NSF grant DMS-2316181, for which I was Principal Investigator.
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:
- 10/26: I will be giving an invited talk at the Special Session on Algebraic and Enumerative Combinatorics of the AMS Fall Eastern Sectional Meeting.
- 08/26: My paper “Restricted Jacobi permutations” was published in Enumerative Combinatorics and Applications.
- 08/26: A preprint of my paper “Bijections between pattern-avoiding derangements and desarrangements” appeared on the arXiv.
- 08/26: I was an invited panelist and gave a contributed talk at MAA MathFest 2026.
- 07/26: I served as a session chair and gave a contributed talk at Permutation Patterns 2026.
- 07/26: My paper “BFS versus DFS for fixed-level targets in ordered trees” was accepted for publication in the SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics.
03/26: I will be giving an invited talk at the Special Session on Algebraic Combinatorics of the AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting.Did not attend for medical reasons. 🙁- 01/26: I attended the 2026 Joint Mathematics Meetings.
- 12/25: My paper “Counting pattern-avoiding permutations by big descents” was accepted for publication in the Annals of Combinatorics.
- 11/25: I organized the 2025 DREAM Math Summit, a full-day math outreach event for local middle and high school students.
- 11/25: My paper “Desarrangements revisited: statistics and pattern avoidance” was published in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science.
- 11/25: I attended the 27th Triangle Lectures in Combinatorics.
