Championing Indigenous representation in mathematics research

When Brittany Pittman was considering where to pursue her doctoral education in mathematics, TMU’s Faculty of Science was the obvious choice. Pittman was primarily drawn to the program because of professors Anthony Bonato and Michelle Delcourt, who are prominent scholars of graph theory. 

“The main motivator for me was the opportunity to work with these professors, who have done some groundbreaking research in graph theory,” says Pittman, who completed her master’s degree in math at Memorial University of Newfoundland and received an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship.

In the program, Pittman has been studying distinct aspects of graph theory under the guidance of professors Bonato and Delcourt as her PhD supervisors. Over the last two years, she has contributed to two published research papers, generating insights that could have positive implications for everything from airline scheduling to city planning to producing targeted medicines.

“Graph searching is such a new and constantly evolving area. It’s quite different from any other area of mathematics,” Pittman says. “There are constantly new interests, and new problems being looked at.”

Pittman helped promote the dissemination of graph searching findings by co-organizing and speaking in a series of scientific sessions for the Canadian Mathematical Society’s 2022 meeting. She helped engage 11 speakers from universities in Canada and the U.S. to deliver talks on the subject. She organized something similar this June for the Canadian Discrete and Applied Mathematics Conference in Winnipeg.

As enriching as the academic experience has been for Pittman, she has also appreciated TMU’s immense support of her journey as a student with Mi’kmaq ancestry. She has received the Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement Award, the Frank H. Hori Indigenous Graduate Scholarship and the Indigenous Graduate Scholarship Award. She says she’s enjoyed getting to build community through workshops and socials organized by Aboriginal Student Services.

“As an Indigenous student currently living away from home in an urban environment, it's hard to stay connected to your culture. Having these kinds of activities is incredibly valuable,” says Pittman, who plans to continue doing academic research. “This is also an opportunity for me to help increase the representation of Indigenous women in STEM, which is sorely needed.”

Discover the cutting-edge graph theory research conducted by the Graphs@TMU research group in the Department of Mathematics.