College of Sciences staff by location (campus)

Dr Christopher Tuffley staff profile picture

Contact details +6469517614

Dr Christopher Tuffley BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD

Senior Lecturer in Mathematics

School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences

I completed my PhD in mathematics at UC Berkeley in 2003, under the supervision of Rob Kirby, after first completing my BSc (Hons) and MSc with Mike Steel at the University of Canterbury. I worked at UC Davis for three years before returning to New Zealand in 2007 to my present position at Massey.

I was a member of the 1990 and 1991 New Zealand International Mathematical Olympiad teams, and since returning to New Zealand I have become involved in the New Zealand Mathematical Olympiad programme. During 2010-2015 I served as the team leader, attending the 2010-2015 IMOs in Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and Thailand in this role.

More about me...View less...

Professional

Contact details

  • Ph: +64 6 356 9099 x 84614
    Location: 3.05, ScB
    Campus: Turitea

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science with Honours - University of Canterbury (1996)
  • Master of Science - University of Canterbury (1998)
  • Doctor of Philosophy - University of California (2003)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

My primary research interests are in combinatorial topology, knot theory, and combinatorics. I also do some work in the area of mathematical biology.

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Combinatorics and Discrete Mathematics (excl. Physical Combinatorics) (010104): Group Theory and Generalisations (010105): Mathematical Sciences (010000): Pure Mathematics (010100): Topology (010112)

Research Outputs

Journal

Tuffley, C. (2022). IUM1: Indigenising University Mathematics Symposium, September 20–21, 2021. Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 69(10), 1802-1805
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Di, J., Flapan, E., Johnson, S., Thompson, D., & Tuffley, C. (2022). Weakly linked embeddings of pairs of complete graphs in R<sup>3</sup>. Electronic Journal of Combinatorics. 29(2)
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Matroud, A., Tuffley, C., & Hendy, M. (2022). An Asymmetric Alignment Algorithm for Estimating Ancestor-Descendant Edit Distance for Tandem Repeats. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. 19(4), 2080-2091
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Al Fran, HA., Simpson, DJW., & Tuffley, CP. (2019). Characterisation and classification of signatures of spanning trees of the n-cube. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics. 75(3), 259-295
[Journal article]Authored by: Simpson, D., Tuffley, C.
Al Fran, H., & Tuffley, C. (2019). Distinguishing the generalized knot groups of square and granny knot analogues. Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications. 28(5)
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2019). Intrinsic linking with linking numbers of specified divisibility. Ars Mathematica Contemporanea. 16(2), 331-348
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Simpson, DJW., & Tuffley, CP. (2017). Subsumed Homoclinic Connections and Infinitely Many Coexisting Attractors in Piecewise-Linear Maps. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos. 27(2)
[Journal article]Authored by: Simpson, D., Tuffley, C.
Matroud, AA., Hendy, MD., & Tuffley, CP. (2012). NTRFinder: A software tool to find nested tandem repeats. Nucleic Acids Research. 40(3)
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2009). Generalized knot groups distinguish the square and Granny knots (with an appendix by David Savitt). Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications. 18(8), 1129-1157
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Bernstein, M., & Tuffley, C. (2007). Level structures on the weierstrass family of cubics. Communications in Algebra. 35(4), 1249-1261
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2004). Connectivity of finite subset spaces of cell complexes. Pacific Journal of Mathematics. 217(1), 175-179
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C., & Steel, M. (1997). Links between maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony under a simple model of site substitution. BULLETIN OF MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY. 59(3), 581-607
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Burrows, W., & Tuffley, C. (2015). Maximising common fixtures in a round robin tournament with two divisions. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics. 63(1), 153-169
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2013). Some Ramsey-type results on intrinsic linking of n-complexes. Algebraic and Geometric Topology. 13(3), 1579-1612
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C., Timothy, W., White, J., Hendy, MD., & Penny, D. (2012). Correcting the apparent mutation rate acceleration at shorter time scales under a jukes-cantor model. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 29(12), 3703-3709
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2012). Counting the spanning trees of the 3-cube using edge slides. Australasian Journal of Combinatorics. 54(2), 189-206
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Matroud, AA., Tuffley, CP., & Hendy, MD. (2011). An algorithm to solve the motif alignment problem for approximate nested tandem repeats in biological sequences. Journal of Computational Biology. 18(9), 1211-1218
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2007). Popping bubbles. Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 54(6), 746-747
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C. (2003). Finite subset spaces of graphs and punctured surfaces. ALGEBRAIC AND GEOMETRIC TOPOLOGY. 3(2), 873-904
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C.Finite subset spaces of S^1. Algebr. Geom. Topol.. 2, 1119-1145 Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2140/agt.2002.2.1119
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C., & Steel, M. (1998). Modeling the covarion hypothesis of nucleotide substitution. Mathematical Biosciences. 147(1), 63-91
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, C., & Steel, M. (1997). Links between maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony under a simple model of site substitution. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 59(3), 581-607
[Journal article]Authored by: Tuffley, C.

Book

Matroud, AA., Tuffley, CP., Bryant, D., & Hendy, MD. (2012). A comparison of three heuristic methods for solving the parsing problem for tandem repeats. (pp. 37 - 48).
[Chapter]Authored by: Tuffley, C.

Conference

Tuffley, CP., Flapan, E., Naimi, R., & Thompson, D. (2016, December). Strong linking in complete graphs. Presented at 2016 New Zealand Mathematical Society Colloquium. Wellington, New Zealand.
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, CP.(2014, December). Intrinsic linking with linking numbers divisible by q. .
[Conference]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, CP. (2014, December). Intrinsic linking with linking numbers divisible by q. Presented at 8th Australia New Zealand Mathematics Convention. Melbourne, Australia.
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, CP. (2012, December). Correcting the apparent mutation rate acceleration at shorter time scales under a Jukes-Cantor model. Presented at New Zealand Mathematical Society Colloquium. Palmerston North, New Zealand.
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Tuffley, C.
Tuffley, CP. (2008, February). Finite subset spaces of the circle. Presented at Devonport Topology Festival
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Tuffley, C.

Other

Tuffley, CP. (2016, September). Scheduling matches to allow shared transport, or how to get free tickets to your local team's home games. In Claremont Center for Mathematical Sciences Algebra/Number Theory/Combinatorics Seminar. Presented at Pomona College, California.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: Tuffley, C.

Consultancy and Languages

Languages

  • Māori
    Last used: 2016
    Spoken ability: Average
    Written ability: Average

Teaching and Supervision

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Main Supervisor 0 3
Co-supervisor 0 1

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • 2022 - Wayne Burrows - Doctor of Philosophy
    Congruences in Racks and Quandles
  • 2017 - Howida Al Fran - Doctor of Philosophy
    The edge slide graph of the n-dimensional cube
  • 2013 - Atheer Matroud - Doctor of Philosophy
    Nested Tandem Repeats - Computation and Analysis

Co-supervisor of:

  • 2021 - Michael McVeagh - Doctor of Philosophy
    Efficient Markov bases for Z-polytope sampling