The mathematics department of Simon Fraser University was one of the first in Canada to have a discrete mathematics group, and it remains one of the largest.
Original crew
The original members were Tom Brown and Brian Alspach in the early 1980s. The first seminar started around that time, when Pavol Hell joined SFU. It grew, and then receded, and has recently grown again.
The dominant theme has been graphs, and indeed we are pleased to host a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Graph theory. In addition, we conduct research in many areas of applied and pure combinatorics.
A thriving combinatorial community
Currently, we have many active faculty, and graduate students, and our alumni can be found in discrete math groups right across the country: Memorial, Ottawa, Carleton, Waterloo, Lethbridge. There are also SFU discrete math alumni working in industry, and in the many different branches of the Canadian Government.
We are active in local research centers, such as the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, IRMACS and the CECM.
If you are interested in more information, please contact discrete at math.sfu.ca
History of Discrete
Math at SFU
Former Members
Pavol Hell, Brian Alspach, Kathy Heinrich, Chris Godsil