Victoria S Akin, Assistant Professor of the Practice

I am an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Mathematics Department. I work primarily on teaching and math education. I am currently interested in the retention of women in STEM fields and the effect of intervention programs on girls' attitudes and beliefs about math. I am co-directing the Girls Exploring Math (GEM) program as part of this research effort. Additional interests include grading systems and their impact on student anxiety and satisfaction, as well as professional development programs and their effect on graduate student teaching.

My thesis work is in mapping class groups of orientable surfaces. In particular, can a subgroup of the mapping class group with a natural topological or geometric definition be characterized purely algebraically? Does the algebraic characterization reveal properties of the mapping class group? I am interested in characterizing the disk-pushing subgroup, handle-pushing subgroup, and braid group inside of their respective mapping class groups.

Contact Info:

Office Location:
Office Phone:	(919) 660-2869
Email Address:
Web Page:	https://services.math.duke.edu/~toriakin/

Teaching (Fall 2021):

• MATH 230.01, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  LSRC A247, TuTh 01:45 PM-03:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as STA 230.01)

• MATH 230.03, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Gray 228, TuTh 05:15 PM-06:30 PM

  (also cross-listed as STA 230.03)

• EHD 395T.01, BASS CONNX EDUC & HUMAN DEV Synopsis

  Gross Hall 230C, Th 03:30 PM-04:45 PM

• MATH 730.01, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  LSRC A247, TuTh 01:45 PM-03:00 PM

• MATH 730.03, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Gray 228, TuTh 05:15 PM-06:30 PM

• EHD 795T.01, BASS CONNX EDUC & HUMAN DEV Synopsis

  Gross Hall 230C, Th 03:30 PM-04:45 PM

• MATH 230.01, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Social Sciences 119, WF 01:45 PM-03:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as STA 230.01)

• MATH 230.02, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Gray 228, WF 03:30 PM-04:45 PM

  (also cross-listed as STA 230.02)

• MATH 230S.01, PROBABILITY IBL Synopsis

  Physics 235, MW 05:15 PM-06:30 PM

• MATH 730.01, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Social Sciences 119, WF 01:45 PM-03:00 PM

• MATH 730.02, PROBABILITY Synopsis

  Gray 228, WF 03:30 PM-04:45 PM

Office Hours:

111L: Spring 2021
TBA

EHD 396: Spring 2021
TBA

Education:

Ph.D.

The University of Chicago

2017

Keywords:

Education and instruction in mathematics • Geometric group theory

Recent Publications

1. Akin, V, An algebraic characterization of the point-pushing subgroup, Journal of Algebra, vol. 541 (January, 2020), pp. 98-125 [doi]  [abs]
2. Akin, V; Viel, S, Interpreting Student Evaluations of Teaching, edited by Maki, D; Bookman, J; Jacobson, M; Speer, N; Murphy, TJ (2019)
3. Akin, V; Johnson, C; Nasserasr, S, TP_k completions of partial matrices with one unspecified entry, Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, vol. 27 no. 1 (June, 2014), University of Wyoming Libraries [doi]
4. Handel, A; Akin, V; Pilyugin, SS; Zarnitsyna, V; Antia, R, How sticky should a virus be? The impact of virus binding and release on transmission fitness using influenza as an example., Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, vol. 11 no. 92 (March, 2014), pp. 20131083 [doi]  [abs]

Recent Grant Support

• Duke Girls Exploring Math (DukeGEM), Mathematical Association of America, 2021/01-2022/05.