Steve Butler (mathematician)

Steven Kay Butler (born May 16, 1977) is an American mathematician specializing in graph theory and combinatorics. He is a Morrill Professor and the Barbara J. Janson Professor in Mathematics at Iowa State University.

Education and career

Butler earned his master's degree at Brigham Young University in 2003. His master's thesis was titled Bounding the Number of Graphs Containing Very Long Induced Paths.[1] He completed a doctorate at the University of California, San Diego in 2008, authoring the dissertation Eigenvalues and Structures of Graphs, advised by Fan Chung.[2][3] Upon completing his postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, Butler joined the Iowa State University faculty in 2011.[4][5] In 2015, Butler became the 512th (and so far final) person to have an Erdős number of 1, when he published a paper with Paul Erdős and Ronald Graham on Egyptian fractions.[6] In 2017, Butler was named the Barbara J. Janson Professor in Mathematics,[4] and to a Morrill Professorship in 2022.[7]

Work with undergraduates

Butler has been a project lead for the Iowa State University Math REU in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and will head a project in 2025. [8]

References

  1. ^ Butler, Steven Kay (February 7, 2003). Bounding the Number of Graphs Containing Very Long Induced Paths (Master's thesis). Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Steve Butler at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ^ Butler, Steven Kay (2008). Eigenvalues and Structures of Graphs (PDF) (Thesis). University of California, San Diego. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Steve Butler receives Barbara J. Janson Professorship in Mathematics". Iowa State University. September 19, 2017. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  5. ^ Bundlong, Jeff (November 3, 2022). "Walking to work: Good for the sole". Iowa State University. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  6. ^ Roberts, Siobhan (December 10, 2015). "New Erdős Paper Solves Egyptian Fraction Problem". Simons Foundation. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  7. ^ "More than 60 faculty and staff honored with university awards". Iowa State University. April 28, 2023. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  8. ^ "ISU Math REU Past Participants". Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.