Katherine Perry

Katherine Perry, PhD

Faculty - Undergraduate
Image of Katherine Perry.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Email
kperry@soka.edu
Phone
949-480-4050

I am a mathematician specializing in graph theory, design theory, and combinatorics. I am especially interested in breaking apart graphs into smaller subgraphs with special properties. I have a BA in mathematics from Scripps College and received both my master’s and PhD in mathematics from Auburn University working with Chris Rodger. Prior to SUA, I was a postdoc at the University of Denver working with Paul Horn.

In my classrooms, I aim to create an atmosphere of discovery through a variety of techniques designed to activate students’ abilities to think critically. Rather than simply explaining the material, I challenge my students to see a problem and organically develop a process to solve it themselves, with confidence at efficiency. I teach a variety of math courses, but some of my favorites are discrete mathematics, graph theory, mathematics for liberal arts, and linear algebra!

  • PhD, Auburn University
  • MS, Auburn University
  • BA, Scripps College
  • Intro to Computer Science
  • Intro to Network Science
  • Linear Algebra
  • Discrete Mathematics
  • Liberal Arts Math
  • Discrete Mathematics: Combinatorics
  • Graph Theory
  • Design Theory

Publications

  • Sonwabile Mafunda, Jonathan L. Merzel, K. E. Perry, Anna Varvak. Paint cost spectrum of perfect k-ary trees. (Submitted.)
  • Debra Boutin, Sally Cockburn, Lauren Keough, Sarah Loeb, K. E. Perry, Puck Rombach. Determining Number and Cost of Generalized Mycielskian Graphs. Discussiones Mathematicae Graph Theory Vol 44 No. 1 (2024), 127--150.
  • Calum Buchanan, Brandon Du Preez , K. E. Perry, and Puck Rombach. Toughness of recursively partitionable graphs. Theory and Applications of Graphs Vol. 10 Iss. 2, Article 4 (2023).
  • Matthew DeVilbiss, Bradley Fain, Amber Holmes, Paul Horn, Sonwabile Mafunda, K. E. Perry. An Extremal Problem on Rainbow Spanning Trees in Graphs. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics 86(1) (2023), 1--23.
  • Debra Boutin, Sally Cockburn, Lauren Keough, Sarah Loeb, K. E. Perry, Puck Rombach. Distinguishing Generalized Mycielskian Graphs. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics 83(2) (2022), 225--242.
  • Anthony Bonato, Jane Breen, Boris Brimkov, Josh Carlson, Sean English, Jesse Geneson, Leslie Hogben, K. E. Perry, Carolyn Reinhart. Optimizing the trade-off between number of cops and capture time in Cops and Robbers. Journal of Combinatorics 13:1 (2022).
  • Debra Boutin, Sally Cockburn, Lauren Keough, Sarah Loeb, K. E. Perry, Puck Rombach. Symmetry Parameters for Mycielskian Graphs. (2021) In: Ferrero D., Hogben L., Kingan S.R., Matthews G.L. (eds) Research Trends in Graph Theory and Applications. Association for Women in Mathematics Series, vol 25. Springer, Cham.
  • Joshua Carlson, Andrew Owens, K. E. Perry, Inne Singgih, Zi-Xia Song, Donglei Yang, Fangfang Zhang, Xiaohong Zhang. Antimagic orientations of graphs with large maximum degree. Discrete Mathematics 343:12 (2020).
  • Jane Breen, Boris Brimkov, Joshua Carlson, Leslie Hogben, K. E. Perry, Carolyn Reinhart. Throttling for the Game of Cops and Robbers on Graphs. Discrete Mathematics 341:9 (2018), 2418--2430.
  • Hung-Lin Fu, Yuan-Hsun Lo, K. E. Perry, C. A. Rodger. On the Number of Rainbow Spanning Trees in Edge-Colored Complete Graphs. Discrete Mathematics 341:8 (2018), 2343--2352.

Supervised Publications

The following book was written, illustrated, and independently published as a final project for my Winter 2021 Learning Cluster: Folk and Fairy Tales in a Global Context.

  • C. Cozort, F. del Cielo, P. Duong, G. Guion, M. Hashimoto, B. Martel, S. Middleswart, R. Ottman, A. Saito, A. Stallworth, I. Stoliarova, authors. K.E. Perry, editor. Perry Tales Anthology. Independently Published, 2021.
  • H. Adachi, A. Agrawal, P. Chinpattanakul, N. Guzman, M. Lam, S. Meyers, T. Misra, C. Pierce, T. Suetake, R. Sugihara, T. Wang, J. Williams, authors. K. E. Perry, editor. Perry's Choice: 12 Fables. Independently Published, 2022.
  • Travel Grant to attend the Conference on Combinatorics and its Applications (in celebration of Charlie Colbourn’s birthday), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, July 2018
  • AWM Mathematics Travel Grant to attend the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing, Florida Atlantic University, March 2018
  • University of Denver Internationalization Grant to attend the Masamu Advanced Study Institute and Workshops in Mathematical Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Tanzania, 2017
  • College of Science and Mathematics Dean’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, Auburn University, 2015
  • Department of Mathematics and Statistics Excellence in Teaching, Auburn University, 2016, 2015, 2014