Frank Farris

Frank A. Farris is Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Santa Clara University. He is also an editor, author, and artist whose work concerns mathematical topics. Farris is known primarily for mathematical exposition and his promotion of visual mathematics through computer science.

Biography

Farris was born in Santa Monica, California. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Covina, a suburb of Los Angeles. He showed interest and proficiency in a large variety of subjects such as astronomy. At the age of 15, he enrolled in the NSF summer science training program, designed to enrich mathematical talent in America. It was this that solidified his dedication to mathematics.

Farris studied mathematics as an undergraduate at Pomona College and received his PhD. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His time at MIT led him to pursue pure mathematics with a focus on geometry.

Career

Farris taught at Brown University for three years, before becoming an Associate Professor in Santa Clara University in 1984.

Farris served a five-year term as an editor of Mathematics Magazine from 2005 to 2009. He also wrote expositional articles such as award-winning "The Edge of the Universe" for Math Horizons. In 2015, his book Creating Symmetry: The Artful Mathematics of Wallpaper Patterns, which conveys his artistic method, was published by the Princeton University Press.

Farris generates organic mathematical art using symmetry, patterns, and wave functions. He commonly works with wallpaper patterns, which exhibit translational symmetry across two independent axes. He promotes a visual and computational perspective of math through his art, seminars, writing, etc. typically aimed towards undergraduates and mathematicians.