Thomas Hoffman, Ph.D.
Professor of Mathematics
Education
Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Arizona
M.S., Mathematics, Oregon State University
B.S., Mathematics and Computer Science, Western Oregon State College
Professional Experience
- Interim Director, Mathematics Learning Center, Coastal Carolina University
- Chair, Mathematics and Statistics, Coastal Carolina University
- Professor, Coastal Carolina University
- Associate Chair, Mathematics and Statistics, Coastal Carolina University
- Associate Professor, Coastal Carolina University
- Assistant Professor, Mathematics, Coastal Carolina University
- Graduate Teaching/Research Associate/Assistant, University of Arizona
- Graduate Research Assistant, Oregon State University
Biography
Thomas Hoffman, Ph.D., has been a Coastal faculty member since 2004 and has served as both chair and associate chair of the department.
His areas of specialty are group theory, computational mathematics, and discrete mathematics. Lately, these areas of research are focused on applications to Rubik’s Cubes and how to use Rubik’s Cubes in the classroom.
Starting in 2013, Hoffman has been coaching FLL Lego Robotics teams at Ocean Bay Middle School. These teams consistently win awards at regional tournaments and compete at the state level. Additionally, since 2014, he has been a Rubik’s Cube Ambassador to Horry County and organizes the Rubik’s Cube Challenge at the Horry County Tech Fair each Spring.
Hoffman earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and computer science from Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University) in 1996, a Master of Science in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1998, and a Ph.D. in mathematics (computational group theory) from the University of Arizona in 2004.