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My name is Dana Ernst and I am an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ.

My primary research interests are in the interplay between combinatorics and algebraic structures. More specifically, one area of interest is the combinatorics of Coxeter groups. By employing combinatorial tools such as diagram algebras and heaps of pieces, one can gain insight into algebraic structures associated to Coxeter groups, and, conversely, the corresponding structure theory can often lead to surprising combinatorial results. My research also includes combinatorial game theory. More recently my scholarly interests have expanded into enumerative combinatorics with current research projects focused on the combinatorics of genome rearrangements, as well as pattern avoidance in combinatorical structures such Cayley permutations. See my scholarship page for more information.

The combinatorial nature of my research naturally lends itself to collaborations with undergraduate students, and my goal is to incorporate undergraduates in my research as much as possible. Check out my undergraduate research page for examples of recent projects.

My interests also include the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) with a focus on inquiry-based learning (IBL) as an approach to teaching/exploring mathematics. I am currently Co-Director for the Academy of Inquiry-Based Learning and a mentor for several new IBL practitioners. Moreover, I actively give talks and organize workshops on the benefits of IBL as well as the nuts and bolts of how to implement this approach in the mathematics classroom.

I am inspired by the recent open educational resources (OER) movement, and I strongly believe that educators should choose free, open-source, or low cost resources when viable alternatives exist. For a selection of free and/or open-source textbooks, see my list located here. Moreover, the American Institute of Mathematics maintains a list of approved open-source textbooks.

I am a husband and a father of two incredible sons. My passions include cycling, hiking, and trail running. I try to do a few ultra endurance cycling events each year. You can follow my cycling endeavors on Strava. Oh, I enjoy drinking copious amounts of coffee, too.

To contact me, shoot me an email or use any of the social media contacts in the sidebar. Here is my physical work address:

Dana C. Ernst, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics & Statistics
Northern Arizona University
805 South Osborne Drive
PO Box 5717
Flagstaff, AZ 86011

This website was created using GitHub Pages and Jekyll together with Twitter Bootstrap. You can find the source code on GitHub.

Flagstaff and NAU sit at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, on homelands sacred to Native Americans throughout the region. The Peaks, which includes Humphreys Peak (12,633 feet), the highest point in Arizona, have religious significance to several Native American tribes. In particular, the Peaks form the Diné (Navajo) sacred mountain of the west, called Dook’o’oosłííd, which means “the summit that never melts”. The Hopi name for the Peaks is Nuva’tukya’ovi, which translates to “place-of-snow-on-the-very-top”. The land in the area surrounding Flagstaff is the ancestral homeland of the Hopi, Ndee/Nnēē (Western Apache), Yavapai, A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo), and Diné (Navajo). We honor their past, present, and future generations, who have lived here for millennia and will forever call this place home.