Cheryl Praeger has a passion for symmetry.
A winthrop professor in the School of Mathematics and statistics, her research focuses on the theory of groups, which can be regarded as the mathematical representation of symmetry.
She runs two ARC-funded research programs which involve a team of UWA teaching and research staff, ARC postdoctoral research staff, research students, honours students, and a regular stream of international research visitors.
One of these research programs develops computer algorithms for group computation, and the research here ranges from algorithm design, analysis and proof, through to complexity costings and implementation and testing in the systems GAP and MAGMA.
Most algorithms involve random selection from groups or algebras, and so the proofs require probabilistic analysis as well as algebraic methods.
The second research program develops fundamental theory for permutation groups, and the direction taken by this program is strongly influenced by the theory needed for studying group actions on graphs and other combinatorial and geometric structures.
