Faculty Profile

Victor Olaf Larsen

Associate Professor, Mathematics

Dr. Larsen has been part of University of Sioux Falls' amazing community for six years, where he has brought his passion for teaching mathematics to the classroom.  In addition to regularly teaching USF's Quantitative Reasoning course, a key part of the Liberal Arts Core, Dr. Larsen also teaches intermediate and upper-level math courses focusing on the abstract facets of mathematics.  Whether teaching foundational or advanced material, Dr. Larsen cultivates a student-centered learning experience that extends beyond conventional methods. Above all else, he values that USF provides many opportunities to cultivate meaningful and impactful relationships with students, and Dr. Larsen supports them not just in his own classes but also in their athletic, creative, and spiritual pursuits.  In addition to his academic and scholarly activity (which include a book chapter on undergraduate research and six journal publications in the field of Graph Theory), Dr. Larsen also enjoys sharing his passion for logic puzzles and sudoku with students.  Notabaly, Dr. Larsen represented USA at the both the World Sudoku Championship and World Puzzle Championship in 2023.

Education

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, Emory University, 2015
  • M.S., Mathematics, Emory University, 2014
  • B.A., Mathematics, Middlebury College, 2009

Courses Taught

  • MAT112 - Fall 2018, Spring 2019
  • MAT204 - Fall 2018, Fall 2019
  • MAT304 - Fall 2018, Fall 2020
  • MAT151 - Spring 2019, Summer 2019
  • MAT306 - Fall 2019, Spring 2021
  • COM306 - Fall 2019, Spring 2021
  • MAT155 - F19, S20, Summer 2020, F20, Interim 2021, S21, F21, S22, F22
  • MAT205 - Spring 2022, Spring 2023
  • SDV100 - Fall 2019, Fall 2021
  • MAT305 - Spring 2020
  • MAT165 - Fall 2020
  • MAT223 - Spring 2021
  • MAT233 - Spring 2021
  • MAT222 - Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Expertise

  • Graph Theory
  • Competitive Graph Coloring

Scholarships and Creative Work

Book Chapters
  • C. Dunn, J. Firkins Nordstrom, and V. Larsen, "Introduction to competitive graph coloring", appearing in "A Primer for Undergraduate Research: From Groups and Tiles to Frames and Vaccines," Birkhaeuser, (2018)
Publications
  • Z. Berikkyzy, A. Brandt, S. Jahanbekam, V. Larsen, and D. Rorabaugh, "List-antimagic labeling of vertex-weighted graphs", Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science, 23 (2021), #3
  • M. Cream, R. Gould, and V. Larsen, "Forbidden Subgraphs for Chorded Pancyclicity", Discrete Mathematics, 340 (2017), #12, pp 2878-2888
  • J. Diemunsch, N. Graber, L. Kramer, V. Larsen, L. M. Nelsen, L. L. Nelsen, D. Sigler, D. Stolee, and C. Suer, "Color-blind index in graphs of very low degree", Discrete Applied Math, 225 (2017), pp 122-129.
  • C. Dunn, V. Larsen, K. Lindke, T. Retter, and D. Toci, "The game chromatic number of trees and forests", Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science, 17 (2015), #2, pp 31-48
  • H. Bermudez, S. Garibaldi, and V. Larsen, "Linear preservers and representations with a 1-dimensional ring of invariants", Transactions of the AMS, 366 (2014), #9, pp 4755-4780
  • R. Gould, V. Larsen, and L. Postle, "Structure in sparse k-critical graphs," Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, #156 (2022), pp 194-222
  • V. Larsen, J. Vandenbuscche, and E. Westlund, "Hall spectra and extending precolorings with extra colors," Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, 76 (2020), #3, 346-365