Robin Thomas

School of Mathematics
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332
thomas(at)math.gatech.edu
FAX: 404-894-4409

Mathematical Interests:

Graph theory (including infinite graphs), Combinatorics, Combinatorial Optimization, Algorithms

Current research:

The Four Color Theorem and its generalizations, Hamiltonian graphs on surfaces, embeddings of graphs, topological and structural graph theory, disjoint paths in graphs, matchings and Pfaffian orientations, efficient algorithms, perfect graphs. Research sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Recent manuscripts:

1. Girth six cubic graphs have Petersen minors (with N.Robertson and P.D.Seymour).
2. Non-planar extensions of planar graphs (with N.Robertson and P.D.Seymour).
3. Edge-coloring series-parallel multigraphs (with C. Fernandes).
4. Packing directed circuits exactly (with B. Guenin), to appear in Combinatorica
5. Pfaffian labelings and signs of edge-colorings (with S. Norine), Combinatorica 28 (2008), 99-111.
6. The extremal function for 3-linked graphs (with P. Wollan), to appear in J. Combin. Theory Ser. B.
7. Coloring even-faced graphs in the torus and the Klein bottle (with D. Kral), Combinatorica 28 (2008), 325-341.
8. Set intersections, perfect graphs, and voting in agreeable societies (with D. E. Berg, S. Norine, F. E. Su and P. Wollan), submitted.
9. Coloring triangle-free graphs on surfaces. Extended abtract (with Z. Dvorak and D. Kral).
10. Minimally non-Pfaffian graphs (with S. Norine), to appear in J. Combin. Theory Ser. B.
11. Minor-minimal planar graphs of even branch-width (with T. Inkmann).
12. Six-critical graph on the Klein bottle. Extended abstract (with N. Chenette, K. Kawarabayashi, D. Kral, J. Kyncl, B. Lidicky, L. Postle, N. Streib, and C. Yerger)
13. K_4-free graphs with no odd holes (with M. Chudnovsky, N. Robertson and P. D. Seymour).

Professional Service:

• Editor, Journal of Graph Theory
• Editor, Graphs and Combinatorics
• Editor, SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics

Teaching:

Fall 2008:

• Math 6014, Graph Theory

Doctoral students:

• Daniel P. Sanders, Ph.D. 1993. Member of Technical Staff, Renaissance Technologies
• Tom Fowler, Ph.D. 1998. Assistant Professor, Palm Beach Atlantic University.
• Petr Hlineny, Ph.D. 1999. Associate Professor, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
• Barrett Walls, Ph.D. 1999. Assistant Professor, Georgia Perimeter College
• Christopher Carl Heckman, Ph.D. 2000. Visiting Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
• Jan Thomson, Ph.D. 2000.
• Zixia Song, Ph.D. 2004. Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida.
• Paul Wollan, Ph.D. 2005. Humboldt Fellow, University of Hamburg.
• Sergey Norin, Ph.D. 2005. Instructor, Princeton University.
• Rajneesh Hegde, Ph.D. 2006. Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation.
• Torsten Inkmann, Ph.D. expected 2008, following a successful defense.

Pointers:

• My family: Sigrun, Misha, Klara, and Martin.
• The ACO program. Ph.D. program in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization.
• American Mathematical Society Ethical Guidelines
• Transparencies for some of my talks
• An article about my work in Research Horizons, a Georgia Tech publication.
• An article about my work in the Science Magazine.
• Chvatal's Perfect Problems
• Computer data pertaining to the proof of the Four Color Theorem.
• Tree-decompositions of graphs, lecture notes for the Catlin Memorial Workshop.
• Planarity in linear time, an exposition of a planarity algorithm of Shih and Hsu.
• American Institute of Mathematics
• ICGT'05
• The official page for my minicourse at the Euler Institute for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications and syllabus
• ICM 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians and my invited section talk on Pfaffian orientations of graphs
• Georgia Tech Catalog
• Fall School on Algorithmic Graph Structure Theory and my tutorial there
• IV Latin-American Algorithms, Graphs and Optimization Symposium
• The 18th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation
• New Directions in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization, a conference at Georgia Tech honoring the 65th birthday of Tom Trotter.
• Fete of Combinatorics and Computer Science
• Georgia Tech campus map