Bailey Heath

Welcome!

Hello!  I am a senior lecturer in the mathematics department at Vanderbilt University.  Previously, I was a senior lecturer in the mathematics department at Yale University from July 2024 - July 2026.  I am very passionate about both the teaching and research of mathematics.  My research interests lie in algebra, algebraic geometry, and number theory.

I completed my PhD in mathematics in May 2024 at the University of South Carolina (USC) in Columbia, SC., where my PhD advisor was Dr. Alexander Duncan.  

In May 2019, I graduated with a B.A. from Gettysburg College with a double major in mathematics and psychology.  This newsletter from the Gettysburg College psychology department in 2019 shares some information about me and my undergraduate career.

Teaching

I am passionate about teaching because I feel that it is an excellent way for me to use my excitement about mathematics to leave a positive impact on people and the world.  My favorite quote about teaching, and one of my favorites about mathematics in general, is Paul Halmos's, "The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics."  For more information about my teaching, please see my "Teaching" tab above.

Research

Broadly, my interests are in algebraic geometry, algebra, and number theory.  Currently, I am studying the representation dimensions of algebraic tori.  In my doctoral dissertation, I studied the degrees of matrix representations of algebraic tori via G-lattices.  My written comprehensive exam, which largely follows the first six and a half chapters of William Waterhouse's Introduction to Affine Group Schemes, provides some background about what this means.  

I was awarded a Support to Promote Advancement of Research and Creativity (SPARC) research grant through the University of South Carolina for May 2023 - July 2024.  Here is my narrative proposal for the grant, which is intended to motivate and provide some background on the project for people in STEM but not in mathematics.

Personal

Here is a little bit about me outside of academics; click on the "Personal" tab for more!

• I've lived in five states (SC, GA, FL, PA, and CT).

• I'm a huge baseball fan!  My favorite MLB teams are the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox.  

• I enjoy listening to music.  Some of my favorite artists include AJR and NF.

• I got married on August 6, 2022!

Miscellaneous

• So You Want to Go to Grad School? at the Carolina Math Seminar at Columbia College (November 2022).  These slides are from a presentation I did with McKenzie Black about applying to graduate school in mathematics.