Shirley Yap Faculty Profile

I completed a PhD in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania by solving a problem in mathematical physics involving prescribing curvature in fiber bundles over Nilpotent and Solvable groups. In particular, I proved both existence and non-existence of solutions to certain differential systems arising from such curvature problems. 

While at CSUEB,  I have published refereed articles in differential geometry,  Euclidean geometry, differential equations & Lie groups, and computational geometry.   Email me if you'd like to get a copy of my publications.    I get many requests for a copy of my article, "The Poincare Lemma and an Elementary Construction of Vector Potentials" (published  in the American Mathematical Monthly) so if you've arrived at this page seeking this article, please check if your university subscribes to the AMM (it's a widely circulated journal) before emailing me.

I have a strong interest in computation and machine learning and have written programs in Fortran, C++, and Python. Within Python, I'm comfortable using the Numpy, Pandas, and many other Python packages. I also know the mark-up languages of .html and Latex

At CSUEB, I have taught 21 different undergraduate and graduate courses, including Calculus I-IV,Linear Algebra I-II, Real Analysis I-II, Differential Equations, Modern Geometry I-II, Mathematical Modeling, Topology I-II, Differential Geometry, and Symmetries of Differential Equations. I have established our first ever group for female math students, a student chapter of the American Women in Mathematics. I have also mentored many students in research projects and several of those students have received PhDs or are currently getting PhDs in mathematics. I am also currently a Governor of the Mathematical Association of America and represent N. CA., N.Nevada, and HI.

I am also interested in K-12 mathematics education and am a co-founder of the East Bay Math Teachers' Circle, a group that re-energizes teachers about math by working on fun and interesting math problems. Find out more about Bay Area Math Teachers Circles here.

Due to the rising cost of higher education, I have been committed to adopting, developing, and exposing our students to open-source resources like Python, SAGE, and open-source textbooks.