Vesta Coufal, Ph.D.

Professor of Mathematics

I use active learning methods in my classrooms, inviting students to engage both in class and out with the mathematics they are learning. I do research in knot theory with students and colleagues.

Profile Photo of Professor Vesta Coufal

Contact Information

  • Office Hours | Fall 2022

    Monday: 10:00-11:00 a.m.
    Wednesday: 10:00-11:00 a.m. (Bollier 218 - Math Learning Center)
    Thursday: 2:00-3:00 p.m. by Zoom
    Friday: 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.

    By appointment (virtual or in-person) and email.
  • (509) 313-5508
  • Visit my website

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Notre Dame

M.S., Mathematics, University of Notre Dame

M.A., Mathematics, University of California at San Diego

B.A., Mathematics, Mount Holyoke College

Courses Taught

MATH 157: Calculus & Analytic Geometry I

MATH 258: Calculus & Analytic Geometry II

MATH 301: Fundamentals of Mathematics

MATH 341: Modern Geometry

MATH 437: Abstract Algebra I

MATH 438: Abstract Algebra II

MATH 459: Topology

Coufal, V., Fogel, K., Higgins, A., Higgins, W., Ray, R., Villalpando, J., Yerion, K. Trees for Given Values of the Span, Caps and Icaps for L(2, 1)-Colorings, Congressus Numerantium, 227 (2016), pp. 139-155

Alvarado, E.*, Beres, S.*, Coufal, V., Hlavacek, K.*, Pereira, J., Reeves, B.*. Klein Links and Related Torus Links. Involve, Vol 9, No. 2, 347-359, 2016

Book co-author with Erica Flapan, et. al., Knots, Molecules, and the Universe: An Introduction to Topology, American Mathematical Society, 2016

Coufal, V., Pronk, D., Rovi, C., Scull, L., Thatcher, C. (2015). Orbispaces and Their Mapping Spaces via Groupoids: A Categorical Approach. In M. Basterra, K. Bauer, K. Hess & B. Johnson (Eds.), Women in Topology: Collaborations in Homotopy Theory. American Mathematical Society. pp. 135-166, 2015

Coufal, V., Ray, R.,V., Villalpondo, J., Yerion, K., The cardinality of the image of L(2,1)-colorings and irreducible L(2,1)-colorings, Congressus Numernatium. Vol. 220. 2014. pp. 97-108

Coufal, V., “Binomial Theorem”, Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Society, edited by S. Greenwald and J. Thomley, Salem Press, 2011

Coufal, V. A Parametrized Fixed Point Theorem, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., 137 (2009), no. 11, 3939-3942

Coufal, V. A Base Point Free Definition of the Lefschetz Invariant, Fixed Point Theory and Applications, vol. 2006, Article ID 34143, 20 pages, 2006

Topology

Knot Theory