Erica Flapan

Who is Erica Flapan?

Erica Flapan is an American mathematician, the Lingurn H. Burkhead Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College.

Flapan did her undergraduate studies at Hamilton College, graduating in 1977, and went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a Ph.D. in 1983 under the supervision of Daniel McMillan. After postdoctoral studies at Rice University and the University of California, Santa Barbara she joined the Pomona faculty in 1986.

Flapan's research is in low-dimensional topology and knot theory. She has published numerous papers, as well as worked on three books. She is the author of the book When Topology Meets Chemistry: A Topological Look at Molecular Chirality. In 2009, Flapan edited the book Applications of Knot Theory along with Dorothy Buck. With James Pommersheim and Tim Marks she also wrote the book Number Theory: A Lively Introduction with Proofs, Applications, and Stories.

In 2011, Flapan was one of three winners of the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, from the Mathematical Association of America.