William Lawrence Kocay
Encyclopedia
William Lawrence Kocay is a Canadian
professor at the department of computer science at St. Paul's College
of the University of Manitoba
and a graph theorist
. He is known for his work in graph algorithms and the reconstruction conjecture
and is affectionately referred to as "Wild Bill *pew-pew*" by his students. Bill Kocay is a former managing editor (from Jan 1988 to May 1997) of Ars Combinatoria, a Canadian journal of combinatorial mathematics, is a founding fellow of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications
, and has an Erdos number
of 2.
His research interests include algorithm
s for graphs, the development of mathematical software, the graph reconstruction problem, the graph isomorphism problem, projective geometry
, Hamiltonian cycles, planarity
, graph embedding algorithms, graphs on surfaces, and combinatorial designs.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
professor at the department of computer science at St. Paul's College
St. Paul's College (Manitoba)
St. Paul's College is a Roman Catholic College on the Fort Garry campus of the University of Manitoba.St. Paul's College is a college within the University of Manitoba, and in order to become a part of it, you have to select that you want to be a part of it when applying to the University of...
of the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
and a graph theorist
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...
. He is known for his work in graph algorithms and the reconstruction conjecture
Reconstruction conjecture
Informally, the reconstruction conjecture in graph theory says that graphs are determined uniquely by their subgraphs. It is due to Kelly and Ulam.-Formal statements:...
and is affectionately referred to as "Wild Bill *pew-pew*" by his students. Bill Kocay is a former managing editor (from Jan 1988 to May 1997) of Ars Combinatoria, a Canadian journal of combinatorial mathematics, is a founding fellow of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications
Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications
The Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications is an international scientific organization. It was formed in 1990 and is based in Winnipeg, Canada.-Aim and membership:...
, and has an Erdos number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
of 2.
His research interests include algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s for graphs, the development of mathematical software, the graph reconstruction problem, the graph isomorphism problem, projective geometry
Projective geometry
In mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant under projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary geometry, projective geometry has a different setting, projective space, and a selective set of basic geometric concepts...
, Hamiltonian cycles, planarity
Planarity
Planarity is a puzzle computer game based on a concept by Mary Radcliffe at Western Michigan University. The name comes from the term planar graph. In graph theory, a planar graph is a graph that can be embedded in a plane so that no edges intersect...
, graph embedding algorithms, graphs on surfaces, and combinatorial designs.
Publications
- Some new methods in reconstruction theory, WL Kocay - Combinatorial mathematics, IX (Brisbane, 1981), LNM
- Some NP-complete problems for hypergraph degree sequences, CJ ColbournCharles ColbournCharles Joseph Colbourn is a Canadian computer scientist and mathematician, whose research concerns graph algorithms, combinatorial designs, and their applications...
, WL Kocay, DR Stinson - Discrete Applied Mathematics, 1986 - portal.acm.org
Books and Software package
- Graphs, algorithms, and optimization By William Kocay, Donald L. Kreher, Published 2004, CRC Press, 483 pages
- Groups and graphs - A software package for graphs, digraphs, combinatorial designs, projective configurations, polyhedra, graph embeddings in the torus and projective plane, and automorphism groups. It also constructs fractals.