James Phillips, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

I earned my B.S. in Mathematics at Villanova University in 2013 and Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in 2019. I completed my dissertation under the supervision of Andrew Obus focusing on the behavior of Galois covers of curves defined over discretely valued fields. My current research lies at the intersection of number theory and algebraic geometry and involves systematic ways of generating examples of Galois covers that satisfy given ramification criteria. After graduate school, I spent three years as a visitor at Wellesley College before joining the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Seton Hall.

At UVA and Wellesley, I was part of initiatives to introduce inquiry-based and flipped-classroom techniques in lower-level mathematics classes. My teaching interests include number theory, information theory, and cryptography. I also help coach the Seton Hall team for the annual Putnam Competition.