Blake A. Farman

About Me

I am a Vermonter, born and raised. When I’m not doing mathematics, I tend to spend my time outdoors. Some of my favorite activities include hiking, backpacking, fly fishing, cycling, and snowboarding.

Appointments

I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Mathematics and Statistics Program within the College of Engineering and Sciences at Louisiana Tech University. I am a recent Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) fellow in the Red ‘22 cohort.

I was most recently an Assistant Professor and the Capital One Endowed Professor of Mathematics in the Mathematics Program within the School of Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Before that, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Lafayette College.

Education

I received my Ph.D. on May 12, 2018 from the Department of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina under the direction of Matthew Ballard. My dissertation is titled Geometry of Derived Categories on Noncommutative Projective Schemes.

Before that I completed an M.S. in Mathematics at the University of Vermont and a B.S. in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Thanks to the Mathematics Genealogy Project at North Dakota State University, you can view my Academic Genealogy. More general information about me can be found on my Curriculum Vitae.

Research

Algebraic geometry is a discipline that utilizes tools from many different areas of mathematics that form the basis for our understanding of a vast array of applications: the study of elliptic curves has produced modern cryptographic methods; methods from homological algebra provide data scientists with cutting edge tools for understanding the shape of data; the study of derived categories provides a link to string theory by way of Kontsevich’s homological mirror symmetry.

My particular research interests lie broadly in developing algebraic techniques to study structures in noncommutative algebra through derived categories on noncommutative projective schemes. For more specific information about my research program, take a look at my Research Page.

Teaching

As an educator, I have taught courses at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum, ranging from general education courses like Contemporary Mathematics and College Algebra, to upper division major courses like Real Analysis and Abstract Algebra. I strive to create an inclusive and equitable environment in each of my courses that challenges and engages all of my students. I structure my courses to encourage students to be active participants in their own learning while building the intuition necessary to utilize the material beyond the confines of the coursework, and to become independent learners with the capacity to critically assess the mathematics they and their peers produce.

More detailed information about my teaching is available on my Teaching Statement.