2024 Fellow of the Canadian Mathematical Society
Dr. Doolittle is Kanyen’kehake, a proud member of the Lower Mohawk band of Six Nations. After earning his Ph.D. in pure mathematics at the University of Toronto in partial differential equations, he has been a valued member of the University of Regina community as an Associate Professor at First Nations University of Canada for more than two decades. During his tenureship at the University of Regina, Dr. Doolittle has been an influential member on both local and international committees, which include the Indigenous Engagement Committee of PIMS; the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Board of BIRS; and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee of the Fields Institute. In addition, he is currently the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the First Nations University of Canada, and the chair of the Mathematics and Reconciliation Committee of the Canadian Mathematical Society.
Currently, his research interests are centered around the study and the dissemination of Indigenous mathematics and the interplay of mathematics with Indigenous knowledge systems. His most recent projects include “Word Puzzles in Indigenous Languages”, which is a long-standing project to develop software to produce puzzles like word searches in Indigenous languages to help with language education efforts, and the analysis of Indigenous games, like the Haudenosaunee Peach Stone Bowl Game, using Markov theory, which is joint work with his NSERC USRA mathematics student, Layne Burns.
As a result of his research and his efforts to promote Indigenous mathematics, Dr. Doolittle earned the 2023 Adrien Pouliet award from the Canadian Mathematical society in recognition of his significant and sustained contributions to mathematics education in Canada. He has been invited to address the International Congress of Mathematics Educators (ICME-15) in Sydney, Australia, in July where he will deliver the talk “Mathematics as a Spiritual Being”. He is also organizing a workshop at BIRS called “The Math Bundle'' in which techniques of Indigenous oral tradition in the presentation and transmission of mathematical knowledge will be used in order to re-etablish good relations between Indigenous people and mathematics. These opportunities will further disseminate Dr. Doolittle’s research far beyond his local community, and they will hopefully inspire other instructors to incorporate and to learn more about Indigenous mathematics in the classroom.
Congratulations on becoming a 2024 Fellow of the Canadian Mathematical Society, Dr. Doolittle!
To read more about Dr. Edward Doolittle and his research, please visit his website.