Daniel Pinzon: DIRECTORY

Dr. Daniel F. Pinzon loves mathematics as an art and a science. He is interested in how mathematics affects and is affected by the other arts and sciences. Pinzon earned a B.A. in physics with a concentration in mathematics at Cornell University and his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Kentucky.

Pinzon has been a faculty member at GGC since 2011 and is still excited to work at a college that encourages new methods of instruction and fosters a more effective learning environment. He is greatly interested in how mathematics is perceived and how to foster a positive attitude towards mathematics in others. He is studying how this positive attitude can help students learn mathematics more easily and effectively. His research includes inquiry-based learning and growth mindset techniques. He has helped develop and redesign many courses including College Algebra, Mathematics for Liberal Arts Students, Statistics, and Calculus III.

Pinzon’s current research also includes graph theory, where he investigates the effect that joining two graphs or networks has on the properties of the entire graph. He is interested in how topological data analysis can help identify these properties. Throughout his career, Pinzon has enjoyed advising students in their research projects both at his former institution at the U. of Arkansas at Fort Smith and here at GGC. Some undergraduate research topics include graph theory, graphs of organic molecules, the topology of DNA, topological data analysis, machine learning on large data sets, and mathematical physics. Pinzon is the advisor to the Mathematics and Engineering Club and enjoys helping to organize guest speakers, events, and other mathematics activities that show how mathematics is still being discovered, how we can use mathematics to describe and solve very practical but very difficult problems, and how they can play a part in this work. 

Pinzon is married to Dr. Katherine Pinzon who is also a professor of mathematics at GGC. They have three children and are having a wonderful time exploring all the restaurants, festivals, parks, zoos and museums in Gwinnett County as well as the larger Atlanta area.

• Doctorate – mathematics – University of Kentucky
• Master's – mathematics – University of Kentucky
• Bachelor’s – physics – Cornell University

• Graph theory
• Growth mindset and its effects on mathematics students at all levels
• Topological data analysis and machine learning
• Inquiry based learning 
• Applications of topology and graph theory to biology, chemistry and physics
• Mathematics and the liberal arts
• Professional learning communities
• Algebraic topology
• Vertex algebras